The Titan Chronicles, Ep II: Clash of the Titans
by CidGregor
Summary: TerraBB, minor RobStar. When Malchior is again freed from his prison, he unleashes the ancient Earth Titan of Greek mythology to get revenge on Raven and her friends...and the only way for them to fight back...is to raise an 'Earth Titan' of their own...
1. ACT ONE: The Betrayers

**THE TITAN CHRONICLES, EPISODE II: CLASH OF THE TITANS**

by CidGregor

Rated T / PG-13

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Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. 

Author's Note: This story is set after the events of my fic "Sleeping Prince." Please read that fic first, or certain story elements may not make sense to you. Thank you.

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**ACT ONE**

* * *

**Prologue **

"Ugh…"

Raven glared at the moldy old cover of the book in her hands. She had no idea why it was even still in her bookcase, or even where she'd gotten it. More than likely it had been a gift from years past that, out of guilt, she was reluctant to get rid of, because she'd never really liked it, and it certainly didn't seem like something she'd pick up herself. It just wasn't…dark enough.

She threw another dirty look at the old tome and dropped it into the box at her feet. It was loaded with assorted trinkets she didn't really want or need anymore: hairclips Starfire had left lying around now and then, figurines that had been stuffed in a back corner, that sort of thing. Her room was, frankly, getting cluttered. Nowhere near as bad as Beast Boy's room, of course, but for her room to even slightly resemble the pigsty that the changeling lived in was reason enough to do a little spring-cleaning.

The bookcase dealt with, she turned to her dresser. She went through the drawers one by one, tossing into the box some of her older clothes and uniforms that either didn't fit anymore or were too tattered from battle to wear. There was a surprising amount of such unusable attire; Raven wondered to herself how she'd let them pile up so much.

Once that was done she looked at the top of the dresser. Aside from her magic mirror, the only things that adorned its surface were a pair of framed photographs. One of them was a group picture of the five Titans, posing in front of the Tower.

The other was a solo picture…of Terra.

It was one of the few photos the Titans had of her. There hadn't been a lot of time for picture-taking in the short time that the blonde girl had been with the team before she had showed her true colors. Most of the photos they did have of her, Beast Boy held on to. But each of the other Titans did have one picture of their former friend.

Raven took her photo in her hands, suddenly lost in thought. It had been quite a while since then…since Terra had finally freed herself from Slade and sacrificed herself to save the city. A little over six months, if she was counting correctly. And still the girl was encased in stone, and the Titans were no closer now to finding a way to free her than they were back then.

At least, that was what the other Titans believed.

Truth be told, Raven had made some progress. Her power had grown a lot lately, thanks to the teachings of the dark dragon in disguise, Malchior. And despite his deception, he had taught Raven many powerful new spells during that deception…one of which had a solid chance of reviving their fallen comrade Terra.

But there were problems. Most notably was the glaring fact that the spell in question was not guaranteed to succeed. There was a very real chance that, if it was not properly cast and controlled, it could backfire and destroy Terra's stone body completely. Control, of course, was not a huge problem for the dark girl under normal circumstances; it was something she'd practiced religiously her whole life.

But that led to the other problem: the circumstances here were far from normal. Even though Terra had made such a noble sacrifice, she was far from redeemed in Raven's eyes. There was a lot of evil she had committed while under Slade's apprenticeship, not the least of which was the utter and total betrayal of the Titans, and the attempt on their lives that had come dangerously close to succeeding. Combined with the fact that the volcano Terra had sacrificed herself to stop was her own fault in the first place, Raven believed Terra was worthy of neither redemption nor forgiveness. Even if she were to somehow decide to let Terra free, she didn't trust herself to stay calm and in control the entire time; as much as she did not like the blonde girl, Raven didn't want to risk losing control and destroying Terra's stone body. She wasn't a killer.

Raven glared at the photo in her hands, wondering why she still kept it. Terra had caused a lot of hurt through her secret service to the terrorist mastermind, Slade…she'd betrayed Raven's trust, destroyed Starfire's innocent friendship, spit on the final chance Robin had given her, turned Cyborg's best and most carefully-crafted defenses against their creator…and perhaps worst of all, broke Beast Boy's heart…no, that was an understatement. She'd held his heart in her hands and slowly, torturously squeezed the life out of it before utterly _shattering_ it. Beast Boy had never really recovered from that; although her final turnaround and sacrifice had healed his heart to an extent, he still was prone to uncharacteristic bouts of sullenness at the slightest reminder of his first love. Why did Raven still have such a constant reminder of all that pain?

For a brief moment her anger flared a bit, and in a small flash of black the glass of the frame snapped. Raven dropped the photo, broken frame and all, into the box. _No more,_ Raven thought. _Your face is through haunting me._

She spun away and strode over to the trunk at the foot of her bed, her mind back on her task of cleaning. She lifted the lid and began tossing more old junk into the box, until something else caught her eye; a leather strap built into the apparent bottom of the trunk. Of course Raven knew that it wasn't really the bottom; with a small tug on the strap, the 'bottom' lifted right out, revealing the trunk's hidden compartment. And beneath it was a symbol of yet another betrayal and deception; a large, white book, a thousand years old and yet looking brand new. The ancient prison of the dark dragon Malchior.

This, Raven thought to herself, there was at least a reason for holding on to. If anyone else as capable as Raven ever discovered this book, they could very well be manipulated into freeing the dragon once more, just as Raven herself had been.

She replaced the concealing panel with a long sigh. The only two people she'd ever trusted outside of the Titans, Terra and Malchior, had both turned on her. Was she really that bad a judge of character? Were the two traitors simply that clever?

_Or am I just that stupid?_

It didn't matter, in any case. Raven had learned from both betrayals, and would not make the same mistake again. And both betrayers were sealed away in there own personal prisons; Terra in her stone, and Malchior in his book. They would not be hurting her, or her _real_ friends again anytime soon…

**_WRI! WRI! WRI! _**

Red flashes and a wailing alarm suddenly filled the Tower; the Titan alarm was sounding. There was trouble in the city.

Abandoning her task and the box of junk, Raven turned and headed out the door, locking it behind her as usual…and completely failing to notice, in her hurry to leave, the strange black glow that was suddenly shining through her trunk…nor did she hear, over the wailing alarms, the ghostly, inhuman laugh issuing from it…

* * *


	2. While You Were Gone

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

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**Chapter 1**

"Pardon me for my sleight of hand!"

Like magic – coincidentally enough – Mumbo the Magician's hands popped right off his wrists and swelled until they were each human-sized. They grabbed the edges of the massive steel door, yanked it almost effortlessly out of the wall, and threw it across the room with a resounding crash.

"Dear me, it appears I was a bit...heavy-handed!" the magician cackled at his own wit. "Oh well. Time for the loot to make a disappearing act!"

His hands magically back where they belonged, he swept his top hat off his head and waved his wand at the now-exposed bank vault. A strong wind picked up inside it, and the stacks of bills, coins, and precious jewels were quickly caught in it. Once the vault was empty, the wind shifted, and flew straight into the magician's hat, money and all.

Mumbo spun the hat in his hand, tapped it with his wand, and turned it outward. "And presto! Gone without a trace! Thank you, thank you, you've all been quite the…_captive_ audience!"

He laughed again, facing the bank employees strewn across the floor, each bound and gagged by colorful chains of handkerchiefs tied together. Some struggled, some panicked, and some groaned at the villain's one-liners, but none of them could do much else.

"Well, I know you'd all love me to stay, but I'm afraid there's no time for an encore performance! Ta-ta!"

Mumbo turned away from the crowd of employees and toward the door…and was promptly met with a large steel boot to his face.

The villain flew backwards and crashed against a teller window with a loud "oomph!" He shook his head to clear it and quickly scrambled to his feet. He looked to where the boot had appeared from, and saw none other than the Teen Titans standing before him, blocking the main exit.

"Somehow I don't think anyone's going to find your parlor tricks amusing!" Robin declared.

"Your act's over, Mumbo," Raven deadpanned.

"Indeed it is, m'lady!" Mumbo said jovially, waving his wand. "And it's time I made my grand exit! _Mumbo Jumbo!_"

In the wall behind him, a door with the word 'backstage' written on it suddenly appeared, and the magician dashed for it.

"Titans, GO!" Robin shouted. The team sped toward the door after Mumbo, Beast Boy and Starfire speeding ahead of the others. Mumbo reached the door and ran through with a mad cackle, and Starfire and Beast Boy sped through after him, but a moment later it slammed closed and vanished, and Robin, a split second too late, face-planted directly into the wall.

"Oww…" he muttered, rubbing his nose. "Cyborg, lock onto Beast Boy and Starfire's communicators so we can follow them!"

"Already on it," the metallic Titan assured.

"Raven, start freeing these people, and then rejoin us as soon as you can," Robin ordered, gestured at the bank employees. Raven nodded agreement, and Robin and Cyborg hurried outside to follow their two teammates and Mumbo. Robin leapt on his R-Cycle, while Cyborg jumped into the T-car.

"They're chasing him through the alleys. Keep me posted on his position by comlink," Robin said to Cyborg. "I'll get ahead of them, you cover the main road. With Starfire and Beast Boy behind him we can box him in. Be careful, though," he warned. "Remember this is Mumbo we're dealing with. No telling what he has up his sleeves."

The boys revved their engines and sped off. It took less than five minutes to catch up to Mumbo and their teammates.

"_The Mumbo Jumbo is proving a most challenging foe_," Starfire reported as she tailed him. "_His spells have warded off all our attempts to stop him_."

"_Yeah, dude, he's as slippery as one of his fake snakes_!" Beast Boy added.

"Just keep on him!" Robin instructed through the communicator. "Cyborg and I are gonna surround him!"

"_Well hurry it up! I'm not made for long chases, dude_!"

Robin ignored the changeling. He gunned the engine and zoomed well ahead of his teammate's signals, then swerved around and into the alley they were chasing Mumbo through. Sure enough, he'd managed to plant himself right in Mumbo's path. The magician skidded to a halt and made to dash sideways toward the main road, but Cyborg's car screeched into view and cut him off. A moment later Beast Boy and Starfire caught up from the rear, sealing Mumbo in.

"Show's over, Mumbo," Robin said. "Come quietly and maybe the guards'll let you have a deck of cards to play with while you rot in a prison cell."

"You think my act's hit rock bottom, do you?" Mumbo sneered. "Wrong again, Titans! I've got nowhere to go but up, UP, _UP_!"

Mumbo's wand waved again, and the villain rocketed straight up into the sky as though he was wearing an invisible jet pack.

"So long, Teeny Titans!" he cackled, looking down at their shrinking figures. He turned his attention skyward…and crashed straight into a solid wall of black energy.

"No more tricks Mumbo," Raven muttered from behind the shield.

The villain fell to the ground roughly, his wand tumbling from his grasp. Robin swept it up and snapped it in half over his knee; instantly a balding old man replaced Mumbo's magician form, and his hat expelled all the money from the bank before disappearing with the rest of the villain's costume.

"Unnhh…" the now-unconscious Mumbo moaned.

A moment later sirens could be heard from nearby, and a squad of policemen arrived to cart the villain away and return the money to the bank.

"Great job as usual, Titans," the officer in charge said, nodding to the fivesome. "We'll take him from here."

"Our pleasure," Robin saluted him. "Just try to hold on to him this time." He nodded to the officer, then turned back to his team. " Mission accomplished, guys. Let's go home."

* * *

Raven made her way back to her room alone; Cyborg had decided to make waffles – predictably enough – to celebrate, but Raven wasn't in the mood. She still had half her room to sort through and clean out. She approached the door and punched in her unlock code; the keypad let out a small beep and the door slid open…

And Raven almost fell over in shock.

Her room was utterly trashed. The books on her bookshelf had all been pulled off and tossed everywhere; her sheets were strewn haphazardly off the edge of the bed; her closet and dresser hung open, their contents scattered; and the trunk at the foot of her bed looked like it had exploded and littered the floor with its contents. Her room actually looked worse then Beast Boy's.

A furious glare overcame the dark girl. She stormed back into the main room, where Beast Boy was sitting down to a video game, Robin and Starfire were chatting pleasantly at the kitchen table, and Cyborg was mixing waffle batter.

The latter Titan looked up and smiled at her as he mixed the batter. "Hey, Rae, you decided to have some of my waffles after alllllyyeeAHHHH, WHOA WHOA, MY WAFFLE MIX!"

Cyborg's body was suddenly encased in black and was lifted right off the ground, the bowl of batter clattering to the countertop and thankfully not spilling. A second later the other three Titans were ensnared in crackling black energy as well, with various shouts of protest. Raven dragged all of them telepathically down the hall and dropped them roughly on the ground in front of her room.

"Oww! Dude, what gives?" Beast Boy whined.

"Explain," Raven growled, gesturing violently toward her room. The other Titans glanced in curiously, and their eyes bugged out.

"What in the world…?" Robin muttered.

"Dude, this looks worse than _my_ room!" Beast Boy added.

"Dang, Rae, that's some mess," Cyborg said.

"This is most unlike you, Raven," Starfire said. "Is something the matter?"

"I didn't do this to my own room!" Raven snarled. "I know one of you did it!"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Cyborg said. "What makes you think _we_ did this?"

"Why on Earth would we desire such a thing?" Starfire exclaimed.

"Yeah, Rae, do I _look_ like I have a death wish?" Beast Boy said.

"Besides, we've all been out catching Mumbo," Robin reasoned. "You were with us the whole time. How could we possibly have done this?"

"Who else could possibly get into the Tower and into MY room?" Raven countered. She glared at Cyborg. "It's _your_ security system, after all. Who could possibly get past it other than one of us?"

"A lot of people," Cyborg said. "The Titans East, for one. Not that I'm accusing them, but they do have access to our Tower. And then there's the new Red-X. I still don't understand how he got in the first time…"

"Let's go check surveillance," Robin said. "Maybe we caught whoever it is on camera. Raven, check if anything's missing, it's possible someone wanted to steal something from your room. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and I will go over the surveillance tapes. Star, give Raven a hand with searching."

Robin and Cyborg left, and Raven took a deep, calming breath. Robin was right. They had indeed been out catching Mumbo. The others couldn't possibly have done this. They _wouldn't _have. But then who did?

"Well then, friend Raven, shall we begin cleaning?" Starfire asked.

"No, you go help the boys," Raven said to Starfire as she went into her room. "I'll take care of this myself."

"Are you sure, friend? I would be more than happy to assist you…"

"Just GO!" Raven said, slamming the door and locking it in a confused Starfire's face.

* * *


	3. Candid Camera

Author's note: Sorry about the delay...real life invades again. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long.

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Clash of the Titans by CidGregor 

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"So let me get this straight," Beast Boy said. "You've got surveillance all over the Tower, all the time?"

"For the most part, yeah…" Cyborg said.

"So…" an evil grin came over the changeling. "So…if you looked at the tapes, you could, oh, I don't know, say…check out the shower-cam when Starfire--OW!"

Robin slammed a fist over Beat Boy's head. "Shut it!" he growled, turning red.

"Yeah, man, get your mind out of the gutter," Cyborg added. "There ain't no shower cam. Heck, I usually keep the cameras in the girls' rooms off entirely. Heh…they'd probably kill me if I didn't."

Robin glared. "What do you mean, '_usually_?'"

"I only turn on full surveillance when we aren't in the Tower," said with an annoyed sigh. "That way, in case something happens while we're gone, we'll have it on home video. But while we're here, the cameras in our rooms deactivate, for all the obvious reasons. Jeez, Rob, relax, I ain't watchin' your girlfriend changing with this thing."

"She's NOT my--…ugh, could we just focus on the task at hand, please?" Robin said, trying to shake from his mind the images that Cyborg's comment had summoned.

"Here we go," Cyborg said, all business again as the screen flickered. "This is Rae's room right after we left to…stop Mumbo…"

"What the…?" Robin muttered, staring at the screen.

"Duuuuude…" Beast Boy added.

The video feed showed a large, ornate trunk at the foot of Raven's bed, and it was glowing an odd, sickly shade of purple. It was lurching unpleasantly as well, as though something was kicking around inside of it.

"That's not normal…is it?" Beast Boy asked.

"Who knows, with Raven's stuff?" Cyborg said. "Sure doesn't _look_ normal, though…"

The trunk continued to glow and lurch…and the boys looked on…

* * *

Raven slowly gathered her books and returned them to their shelves, not bothering to put them back in any sort of order; she'd get everything organized later, when she wasn't shaken to her core. She didn't like having her personal properly manhandled like this, and she sure as hell didn't like not knowing who or what had done it. She could only hope that Cyborg and Robin had caught the perpetrators on camera, so she could personally remove the unlucky punk's spine. But who had gone through the trouble to mess up her room, _only_ her room, and nothing else? From what she could tell so far, nothing was missing.

The really unusual thing was the broken window that she hadn't noticed until a few minutes after she'd started cleaning. It hadn't caught her eye sooner because the entire pane of glass was gone, but when a chilly breeze swept into the room, she finally noticed it. At first she guessed that the perpetrator had come in that way, but then she realized something that made her realize Robin's detective skills were rubbing off on her: there was no broken glass on the floor. All of it, as she noticed when she looked out the window, was littering the earth below her, glinting with reflected light. Which meant that it had been broken from the inside outward, and forcefully. However the perpetrator had gotten in, it looked as though this was how they'd gotten out. But why had the culprit snuck in so secretively and then so carelessly broken back out?

Raven gathered another handful of books and stuffed them into the shelf, then turned to her trunk. She started gathering things to put back inside, but froze as she bent over the trunk and looked within it; the fake bottom had been blown clean off, and the hidden compartment beneath it was not only charred black…but completely empty.

The load in her hands fell to the floor as Raven's hands went limp at her sides. She bolted around the room, scouring through every corner that she hadn't yet cleaned up, overturned every pile of clothes and books, searching, but finding nothing.

At last she came to a rest beside the trunk again, her heart and mind racing. Malchior's book was gone. That was _not_ a good sign. Who could have wanted to steal it? Who could have known about it in the first place? And most curious of all, who could have known exactly where it was hidden?

She whipped her Titan communicator up and clicked it on. "Cyborg, whoever did this to my room, they stole the prison book Malchior was trapped in!" she reported. "Have you gotten anything from the surveillance tapes yet?"

"_Ahh…well, we've got SOMETHING, but…well, you better come take a look at this yourself,_" Cyborg's voice crackled back.

"You found who stole it?"

"_Uhh…not exactly…_"

* * *

Raven entered the security room to find the three male Titans sitting deep in thought. Well, two of them were, anyway. Beast Boy just looked confused. Starfire came in right behind her, looking as puzzled as Beast Boy.

"Okay, so what's this about?" Raven cut to the chase. "Did you see who stole Malchior's book or not?"

"That's sorta the problem, Rae…" Cyborg said. "No one stole it…"

"It kinda…stole itself," Beast Boy finished.

"Excuse me?" Raven said.

"Take a look for yourself," Robin said. He flicked a pair of switches on the control panel, and the video footage they'd just been watching played again. Raven watched in stunned silence as her bedside trunk glowed and jerked unnaturally.

"I take it your trunk doesn't normally do that?" Robin said.

"No. Definitely not normal," Raven agreed, shaking her head.

"How unusual…" Starfire commented. "Whatever could be the cause?"

"Just watch…" Robin instructed.

The team did watch – the boys for the second time – as the trunk's glowing and jolting grew stronger and stronger, until at last the lid burst violently open. The contents exploded out of it in every direction, including the fake bottom, and littered her room. From within the trunk, hurricane-force winds rushed out, explaining the rest of the mess; the gale threw books off the shelf, blew her clothes all over the place, and everything else that she'd found wrong with her room. And finally, out from the bottom of the trunk, a strange purple light shot out, almost faster than her eyes could follow. It crashed straight through the window, and out of sight of the cameras. The moment it left the winds settled and died, leaving her room the utter mess that she'd found it in upon her return.

"Obviously we figured whatever that light was, it had something to do with this," Cyborg stated. "So we took a closer look at it." He backed up the video and then played it again frame-by-frame. When the light shot out, he jammed a metal thumb on the pause button. "Zoom in and enhance the image," Cyborg uttered.

The computer complied; the picture zoomed in on the light, and digitally enhanced the picture, revealing…

"Look familiar, Rae?" Cyborg said.

"It…it can't be…that's not possible…" Raven muttered.

But it was. Her eyes didn't lie. She would recognize that pale white tome anywhere.

It was Malchior's prison book.

And it was moving all on its own.

* * *


	4. Going Solo

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"He's gotten stronger somehow. That's the only explanation. He's gotten strong enough to be able to move around on his own within that book and project his power. He might even be strong enough to free himself without…well…"

"Without your magic to help," Robin finished.

Raven glared at him in response, but it was short-lived. Her eyes fell to the floor. "Yes."

The Titans were gathered in the main room around the main viewscreen, where a still image from the surveillance footage of Malchior's prison book was currently displayed.

"So what do we do about it?" Robin asked. "I know you don't like to be reminded, but you were around him a lot more than the rest of us. You knew him best."

"_Thought_ I knew him best," Raven snapped.

"Even so, you still know more about him than the rest of us. Where could he be going? What could he be planning?"

"DUH!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "He probably wants to get back at Raven for shutting him back in his smelly old book again."

Robin glared at the changeling. "Beast Boy, this is serious, stop being…"

"No. He's right," Raven interrupted. "He might have other goals in mind, but sooner or later he's going to come after me with everything he's got."

"Then what do we do to stop him?"

"_We_ do nothing. _I_ meditate; try to find out where he's gone and what exactly he is going to do to get his revenge. It's me he'll be coming after; this doesn't involve any of you."

"If it threatens your life, or the lives of the citizens of this city, it involves us plenty," Robin countered. "Let us help you."

"I'm sorry. There's nothing you can do."

And without waiting for a response Raven departed to her trashed room, leaving the other Titans dumfounded in her wake.

"Man, what is her deal?" Cyborg muttered. "She's acting like you, Rob."

"Me?" Robin inquired.

"Yeah, you. You always had to deal with Slade all on your own. Never letting us help you."

"Oh, you mean like _you_ just HAD to go after Brother Blood all by _your_self!" Robin shot back.

"Or when Starfire left on her own cuz of that transformation thingy?" Beast Boy added.

Starfire gave him a pouting glare. "You are not helping matters. And if you will remember, Beast Boy, you yourself went after Slade alone when Terra was-eep!"

Starfire cut herself off as the changeling visibly flinched, his whole body seeming to deflate at the mention of their lost friend. An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a handful of seconds.

"I…I am sorry, Beast Boy, I did not mean to…"

"It's…fine…" Beast Boy muttered.

Robin stepped forward to steer the conversation out of dangerous waters. "Look…we all have things that we needed to deal with on our own. This is Raven's. We should just…"

"No!" Starfire exclaimed. "We shall not just stand aside and let her take the entire burden upon herself! We have all tried that, and each time, we succeeded only when we realized that we needed to face our problems together."

"Girl's got a point, Rob," Cyborg admitted.

Robin sighed. "I know…but Raven's the only link we have right now to Malchior, and her meditation is the only thing that's going to lead us to him and help us find out what he's planning. Whether we like it or not, Raven's the only one who can do it."

"So we just let her try to take him on all by herself?" Cyborg demanded.

"No. Our part comes once she finds him. We all take him down, together, just like any other criminal. In the meantime, we'll do the best we can to help Raven with her search anyway. Cyborg, get back on surveillance and try to get a projection of where the book was going. Star, BB, do what you can to help him. I'll get on the police frequencies and scan for sightings of the thing flying over the city."

Cyborg and Robin left the room, but Beast Boy held back, his gaze burning holes in the floor. Starfire too did not leave yet, watching her green companion with a vague feeling of guilt and trepidation.

"Beast Boy…" she said, "…truly, I am sorry…I understand that Terra is still a painful memory for you…it was wrong of me to bring it up…"

"Really, Star, it's okay," the changeling assured her with a brief glance and a forced smile. He headed toward the door, but stopped as he reached it, his eyes on the floor again.

"…Beast Boy…?" Starfire said.

"How long has it been now, Star?" he responded. "Since she was frozen, I mean?"

"I am not sure…" Starfire started.

"Six months, eight days, twelve hours," Beast Boy cut her off, answering his own question. "More than half a year. And in all that time…we're no closer to finding a way to free her. I…I feel like we're failing her."

"Beast Boy, that is not true. Cyborg has researched the problem in every spare moment he has in order to develop the technology to free her. And Raven has pored over her many spell-books in search of one that might also free her. Whether it be by technology or magic, surely one of them will discover the means to free our friend from the stone. It is just a matter of time."

"It's not just that, Star…I mean, you guys all saw how close we were, Terra and I…but…it was more than that. At least to me it was. She was the first girl…heck, the _only_ girl I ever cared about…y'know…_that _way…that felt the same about me. Even when she…turned on us…I knew she still cared, I could see it in her eyes. I knew how much she still felt for me. And I still cared about her…but I…in the end, I couldn't protect her. I couldn't save her."

"Did you…love her?" Star asked tentatively.

Beast Boy looked back at Starfire, and a miserable smile crept onto his face. "Yeah…I think I did."

"Then do not despair, my friend. The ones we love never truly leave us. This is especially true in Terra's case, for she never really left us to begin with. She is still alive and well, and one day, we will free her. That is what I believe."

"For my sake…I hope your right."

Beast Boy turned back to the door and headed through it, with Starfire following in his wake.

* * *

_C'mon, you ancient bag of bad breath, show yourself…_ Raven thought silently. Her senses were stretched as far as she could reach them, but with no luck. Either Malchior had left town, or he was somehow shielding himself from her senses. Either way she was growing irritated…the dark dragon had a knack for drawing that out of her, it seemed. 

"_Raven, try to focus your search on the southwest side of town,_" Robin's voice suddenly crackled through her communicator. "_There are several police reports of civilians sighting a purple light shooting past them, and they all originate from that area._"

Raven glared at the communicator, annoyed at the interruption, but let it slide as she took the advice and focused more intently on the southwest city sector…

_Ah-ha! There you are, you little paper-cut,_ Raven thought. Her eyes snapped open, and with a furtive look at the door, she flew out the window and after Malchior, alone.

* * *

"C'mon, man, I promise I won't tell anyone!" 

"I am _not_ having this discussion with you, Cyborg."

"Oh, lighten up, Rob! It's not like we haven't figured it out already."

"I told you, she's not my girlfriend…"

"What, so you've never even kissed her?"

Robin's face went a deep shade of crimson, and Cyborg let out a roaring laugh. "HAH! I don't believe it, you _did_ kiss her!"

"NO! It…she kissed me, it wasn't like…"

But Robin's words were drowned out by Cyborg's laughter. "I bet that's not how Starfire would tell it! Ha-hah! Well, spill the beans, Rob! How was it?"

"Is there an off-switch for your mouth somewhere?" Robin growled.

"Yeah…you tellin' me what I wanna know!" Cyborg said with another laugh.

"It was nothing!" Robin insisted. "She was just trying to free me from Kitten's mind control chip!"

"Wait, wait, wait, _that's_ how that chip got fried?" Cyborg asked, a huge grin plastered on his face. "Man, Rob, that must've been _some_ kiss…"

Robin's face was now about the same color as Starfire's hair; he could tell because she had just walked into the room and was staring, politely curious, at the boys.

"Cyborg, what on Earth is so amusing? And why has Robin's face changed color? Is he ill?" she said.

"Yeah…he's got the _love_ bug!" Cyborg cackled.

"Shut _up_, you lousy hunk of…" Robin started.

"I have never heard of this 'love bug,'" Starfire broke in. "What are its symptoms? Is it very contagious?"

"Well, it-mmpphhh mmhhmmhph!"

Cyborg was silenced by Robin slapping a hand over his mouth. "Never mind, Star, what is it?"

"It is Raven. Her communicator signal is leaving the Tower at a very rapid speed."

"Leaving the Tower…? Oh, no, Rob, she's doing it! She's going after him on her own!"

"I think you're right, Cy," Robin said. "Star, what direction is her signal moving?"

"Southwest."

"I figured as much. She must have found where Malchior is hiding. Where's BB?"

"He was the one to first discover her absence. He is on her trail as we speak."

"Good. Everyone, let's get after them. Titans, GO!"

* * *

Author's Note: Bonus points to anyone who notices the reference to a Brian McKnight song in this chapter. Hehe! 


	5. Awakening, Part 1

Author's Notes: Sorry for the terrible lateness of this. Hopefully the next one will be up quicker, but...well, no promises.

* * *

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor 

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_An abandoned warehouse…for the love of Azar, it's always a bloody abandoned warehouse…_

Raven stood at the front doors of a dilapidated old factory; its windows broken, its walls covered with graffiti, and its doors hanging off the hinges. All of it just screamed the stereotype of 'abandoned warehouse.' Logically, Raven supposed, there was no better place than this sort of junk heap on the outskirts of town for a criminal to hide and be safe from prying eyes, but she still found herself half-wishing that Malchior had been a little more original. Then she remembered exactly what she was doing here at all, and suddenly the matter of the warehouse no longer seemed important.

She walked through the open doors and glanced around. The sun was setting, casting light of many different colors across the interior. On the surface it somehow gave the place a warm feel, those brilliant colors; but underneath, it was cold and haunting. Raven shivered; she wanted to find Malchior and be done with him as soon as possible; this place was giving her the creeps, and that was saying something.

Most of the warehouse was taken up by one huge, high-ceiling room, and the place had clearly been abandoned for a long, long time. Age-old machinery was covered with a thick layer of rust, and atop that a layer of dust as well. The dust, in fact, lined every inch of the place. Scattered scraps of paper that lay on the floor were almost impossible to see, the dust was so thick. Spider-webs filled the corners and the dark spots, some as big as Raven's head. Every light fixture that she could see was broken. The only sounds were that of her own footsteps and her slow, rhythmic breathing.

At least, they _had_ been the only sounds a moment ago…

_Hello, Raven._

Raven flinched. Her eyes darted around the massive floor, trying to find the source of the voice, but it sounded as though it had come from nowhere and yet everywhere at once. It had sounded…disembodied…ghostly…_familiar_…

_Malchior…_

_Very good, Raven,_ the voice boomed…in her head, Raven realized. _You've found me. But what next? Are you going to shut me back in a prison that can no longer contain my power? Or are you actually going to summon up the guts to simply kill me?_

"How did you get this power? How did you break back out of the book?" Raven demanded aloud.

_Through you, of course, sweet Raven._

"Don't call me that!" Raven snapped. "I fell for your game once, Malchior, but I know what you really are, now. You're a liar and a deceiver."

_Indeed I am. And yet, you were so desperate for companionship, for someone that could 'understand you,' that you failed to see it, even when it was staring you right in the face. Ha-ha-ha-ha…and you call yourself an empath…_

"Stop it!" Raven shouted. "Show yourself, you pile of scrap paper!"

_If you insist._

There was a flash of purple light from directly above Raven. She looked up, and saw its source shining from the rafters. Raven lifted off from the ground and flew toward it with frightening speed, but as soon as she got close, there was another pulse of light.

"AUGH!" Raven cried out as the light slammed into her like a solid wall. It knocked her clear out of the air and she slammed roughly back to the filthy ground, stirring up a huge cloud of dust. She slowly dragged herself to her feet, the dust infesting her sinuses and drawing from her a coughing fit. All the while she could hear Malchior's mocking laughter filling her head, serving only to anger her more. She waved her hands to blow the dust away, but did so more vigorously than she intended, and ended up blasting apart a few desks in the process. The anger was getting to her.

_Control it, Raven,_ the dark girl told herself. _You're stronger than this. Don't let the anger take hold. You know where that road will lead._

Raven closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and when she opened her eyes again the anger had diminished. She looked back to the rafters, but Malchior's book was no longer there. Her eyes darted to the floor, and found the book hovering at eye level twenty feet away from her.

"What did you mean when you said you got all this extra power from me?" she demanded.

_You thought that with the amount of my knowledge and power I was granting to you, I did not receive some of yours in return? Whether you intended it or not, sweet Raven, I have gained power from you…as well as knowledge…yes…the knowledge of that demonic strength that lives deep within you…_

"How did you…?" Raven started, eyes flaring, but cut herself off and took another calming breath. "If you mean you want that power for yourself, you're wasting your time," she bit out. "Not even I can control that demon if it gets loose. Certainly a second-rate magician like you would have no hope of controlling it."

_Not on my own, no…but with your abilities to aid me, I will harness that power within you…_

"And what makes you think I'd ever help you again?"

_Oh, I don't think you will have a choice in the matter. Your power will be mine…and I will use it to rid this world of you and those worthless mortals that **dare** call themselves 'Titans.'_

"What's that supposed to mean?"

_You and your team bring shame to the name 'Titan.' The **true** Titans…the Titans of old…they were glorious beings…even the Gods themselves, ruling over Mount Olympus, feared the power of the mighty Titans. But you…you and your friends who dare to take their name are mere shadows of those great beings._

"Those 'Titans' are ancient mythology. Fiction."

_So too was I believed to be…and yet here I am before you._

"Enough!" Raven snapped. She brought up her hands, which were now glowing with her dark energy. "If you want my power, you aren't getting it without a fight!"

_Wonderful. I was hoping you'd say that._

Malchior's book sprung open; its pages flipped by in a blur, halting on a page that had been ripped in half, so that the only thing visible were a pair of haunting, dark eyes.

_NECRONOM, HEZBEREK, MORTIX!_

A storm of purple light exploded from the book, stirring up a massive wind; though Raven managed to keep her footing, everything that wasn't bolted to the ground went flying; scraps of paper, chairs and desks, shards of glass…

_Glass shards!_

Raven threw up a shield of black energy just before a mass of the objects in question could skewer her alive. The shield blocked the glass, and the worst of the wind, but the desks and other larger items that were being blown about constantly slammed against her bubble with hurricane force, making it difficult for her to maintain the shield.

Just as suddenly as the wind had begun, however, it faded away. Raven looked out from her shield toward Malchior's book, and a gasp of shock tumbled from her mouth; the book was no longer hovering in mid-air, but lying lifelessly on the ground…and standing over it was a tall, skeletally thin figure wrapped like a mummy in the pages of the prison book…all except the eyes. The same eyes that had been looking out at her from the book moments ago. The same eyes that had once captivated Raven's heart. Malchior's eyes.

"Now, Raven," he uttered in a harsh whisper, "the real game begins."

The shock was wiped from Raven's face and replaced with a look of cold steel. "Then let's play. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

The nearest desk suddenly turned black and heaved itself off the ground in Malchior's direction. The villain nimbly leapt aside, but not before snatching his former prison from the ground at his feet. Holding it snugly under one arm, Malchior dodged again and again as every large object in the room hurled itself at him under the influence of Raven's powers.

"Tell me, Raven…why do you face me all alone?" Malchior said as he dodged. "It was rather unwise of you to leave your friends behind where they can't help you."

"I'm not putting my friends in danger for the likes of you!" Raven snarled back. "This is between you and me!"

Raven's telekinesis found a heap of broken glass and launched the deadly shards at the villain, but Malchior dodged them just as easily; not even a single shard scratched his paper-wrapped body. He bounced around like an acrobat, avoiding the glass projectiles while bounding quickly in Raven's direction and plowing into her with a bandaged foot before she could muster a defense. Her concentration broken, the glass shards fell to the ground, lifeless, and Raven was thrown hard against a hunk of machinery. She climbed to her feet again, glaring daggers at Malchior, who merely laughed again.

"Come, Raven, surely you can do better than that. Here…I'll even give you a free shot," he added, standing perfectly still with his arms spread wide. "Do your worst."

Raven sneered. Her powers grabbed hold of the glass shards again and fired them like bullets straight at Malchior. Oddly true to his word, the villain stood there, waiting patiently for the blow to fall…and though Raven did not halt her attack, she suddenly knew that it wasn't going to work.

And she was right.

The glass shredded through Malchior's ancient body, tearing off scraps of paper as they went; some didn't do much more than scrape him, others plowed through him in spots that, had he been a normal being, would have been fatal ten times over. But Malchior was entirely unaffected. He barely even flinched while the glass tore into him. The shredded parts of hid body fell away, but more of the prison book's seemingly infinite pages rose out of the binding and wrapped themselves around the villain in place of the shredded ones.

"Come, now, Raven…try harder, I beg of you. This is starting to bore me."

Raven eyed the prison book. _It's regenerating him…_ she thought. _Instead of containing him now, he's manipulated the book into feeding his power. If that's gone, he'll be vulnerable again._ Raven looked at Malchior again, who was watching her with harsh, mocking eyes.

_I can see the conclusion forming in your mind, sweet Raven,_ Malchior thought. _Make your move…and seal your fate!_

Raven's powers encased Malchior's old prison book. The villain made an attempt to snatch it out of the air, but it rocketed out of his reach and toward Raven. It halted in front of her, and her concentration increased; the book began to shudder, and cracks started to form in its spine.

"You don't want to do that, Raven!" Malchior said.

"Why? So I can listen to your sweet-talking some more? Forget it, Malchior. You're finished! Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!"

The book gave one final lurch, the cracks glowing, and then it shattered into countless pieces, shredded pages exploding in every direction. Raven smirked at Malchior, expecting to see a look of fear upon the villain's face, or at least see his arrogant stare wiped away…and was therefore surprised to see his expression was nothing of the sort. His cocky glare remained, even as his paper body began to slowly unravel and fall to the floor.

"Thank you, Raven. That was all I needed," he said. He raised one unraveling hand, giving Raven a good look, and she let out a horrified gasp.

The paper had fallen away…but beneath it was a shimmering purple ghost of a hand…transparent, yet solid…clearly defined and yet blurred. As the rest of the paper fell away, Raven saw that his entire body was like that, giving the room an eerie purple glow as he hovered a few inches off the ground in front of the dark girl.

Raven fired a pile of obsidian-encased furniture at the apparition, but they merely passed right through him as though he wasn't even there. It wasn't possible…was it?

_You have freed me,_ Raven, Malchior answered her unspoken question, reverting to telepathic speech. _Even if only in spirit. My body has gone along with the book…but no matter…I think I have a suitable replacement in mind…_

And before she even had a chance to be surprised, the villain struck.

* * *

Beast Boy scanned the streets of the city from high above with the acute vision of a bird of prey; a golden eagle, to be precise…well, a green eagle, at least. 

He felt a little guilty, truth be told, for he wasn't searching as carefully as he should have been; but his head and his heart were just not in the game at the moment. Both were still lingering on Terra. He couldn't help it; every time someone mentioned her name, or he passed close by where her statue stood, it was hours before he could get his mind off his first love and back where it belonged. Most people would probably have given up and moved on after their love had been gone for six months…but for one thing, Beast Boy wasn't 'most people,' and for another, Terra wasn't 'gone.' He knew exactly where she was, he knew she was still alive on some level. No, what truly ate at him was exactly what he had told Starfire: after all this time, he and the Titans still hadn't free her. After more then six months, she was still a stone statue in a cave. And what had he done to help free her? Not a thing. Cyborg and Raven were doing all the work and research.

_I'm so freaking worthless,_ the changeling berated himself. _I wasn't able to save you back then, and I can't do anything to help you now…Terra…how could you ever feel anything for a failure like me…?_

"AHHHHHH!"

Beast Boy's eagle head snapped around, the haze of Terra-related thoughts gone instantly. _Raven!_

The scream had come from directly below him, inside a dilapidated old factory. Beast Boy dove, folding his wings back for added speed. He blew through a broken window, flared his wings to come to a halt near the ground, and resumed his elf form.

"Raven? Is that you?" he called out to the darkness. In response, a purplish glow shone from nearby. The changeling approached the source, which seemed to be hidden on the other side of a huge, overturned desk. Wary of what he would find, he shrunk down and became a mouse, creeping around a corner of the desk for a peek.

Upon seeing it, he uttered a loud squeak, and quickly returned to elf form. He hunched over Raven's shaking figure, gaping at the strange light aura about her. Her head was down, so that her hood and her hair shielded her face.

"Rae? You all right? Umm….why are you all…glowy?"

Raven's head abruptly snapped upward; blazing purple eyes bored into Beast Boy's tiny black ones, and before he had a chance to utter a sound he was hurled backward into the wall by a pulse of the same purple light.

"Unnnhhh…ow…" he moaned, dragging himself to his feet. "Dude, Raven, what gives? I'm your…friend…hoo boy…"

Beast Boy trailed off as 'Raven' loomed over him, her eyes blazing purple and her face contorted into a sick smile.

"There is no 'Raven' here, changeling…not anymore," a voice that was entirely not Raven's spoke through her mouth, snarling with every word. "Now…now, Malchior is in control."

Beast Boy paled. "Oh, crap…"

* * *


	6. Awakening, Part 2

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"_So you're telling me that's all that happened? C'mon, Rob, there's got to be more to it than that…_"

"I'm telling you, that's it!" Robin snarled back at the cybernetic titan through the communicator's private channel. "She kissed me to free me from the mind control, and somehow I lost my memory of it, but Raven fixed it, then I went to apologize to Star, and we talked for a bit, and then we made breakfast. Nothing else happened. End of story. Now will you _please_ DROP IT?"

"_No way, man, you're still holding out on me, I can tell!_" Cyborg said. "_Spill it, Rob, and I'll shut up, I promise!_"

"And I'm telling you, there's nothing else to tell!"

"_Yeah, right_."

"Oh, go make love to your car."

"_HEY! You do **not** insult the T-car! It took me the last three weeks to get it back in working order after you decided to wreck it, Boy Blunder!_"

"I told you I was sorry! I wasn't in control of myself! **_I made you your stupid meat waffles for two of those weeks to make it up to you!_**"

"_Yeah, and you burnt 'em half the time! That means you still owe me a week's worth of **good** meat waffles!_"

"I'll get right on that, just as soon as hell freezes over," Robin muttered.

"_What was that?_"

"Nothing. This conversation is over, Cyborg."

Robin clicked off the private com-link to Cyborg and his T-car and opened the public one. "Star? BB and Raven's communicator signals have cut off. Do you see any sign of them from up there?"

"_No, not of our friends specifically…_" she answered from high in the sky above them. "_However, there is a large amount of very irregular light originating from a building approximately two miles to the southwest. It is the same color as the light that was emanating from the book that Malchior is contained in. Shall I investigate it, Robin?_"

"No, wait for us, Star…we don't know what we're going to find in there…best we take it on together, whatever it is."

"_Understood. I shall await your arrival before entering._"

Robin clicked the communicator off and gunned the engine of his R-Cycle. It sounded like Malchior was in there, somewhere, and probably Raven too. The problem was, he didn't know how much power the dragon in disguise had gained, he had no idea if Raven was okay, and there was still no sign of Beast Boy. It was not a situation the Boy Wonder liked being in, knowing so little of what he was facing. Raven and Beast Boy could both be in trouble…they could be seriously hurt, or maybe worse…he didn't know. There was too much he just didn't know. If knowledge was power, then Robin was feeling pretty damn weak right then.

And as he sped toward where he hoped he would find his friends, it suddenly struck him just how ridiculous it was that not two minutes earlier he'd been more worried about meat waffles and a kiss from Starfire three weeks old.

* * *

"WAHH!" 

With a wild, instinctual leap, Beast Boy just managed to dodge the blast of purple energy that 'Raven' fired at him. The blast singed a few hairs on his skin as it passed; too close for comfort for the changeling. He took a leaf from Bumblebee's book and morphed into her namesake, making himself a much more difficult target.

In theory.

Malchior seemed intent on proving him wrong, however. The blasts he fired through Raven's eyes were still coming at Beast Boy with remarkable accuracy, and even as a tiny little bee, the blasts were still burning the hairs on his insect body.

The changeling decided to opt for speed rather than size; he flew down to the ground at top speed and morphed into a cheetah, and now at last he was avoiding Malchior's assault with ease. The villain realized it quickly enough and ceased his assault, apparently unwilling to waste any more energy. He locked Raven's eyes with the big green cat.

"So…Beast Boy, is it?" Malchior's voice spewed out of her mouth. "My my…Raven certainly doesn't hold much respect for you, I see…"

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed, his whiskers twitching.

"Oh, but it's true," Malchior continued, raising one of Raven's hands and tapping it to her skull. "I have access to every corner of this girl's mind. Her every thought, her every secret, belongs to me, now. And I must say, changeling, she rarely finds your antics amusing. You're little more than a pest to her. An annoying fly she longs to swat."

Beast Boy resumed elf form. "Tell me something I don't know, you body thief!"

"I believe I can do that…"

The green Titan could almost see the wheels turning as Malchior dug into Raven's deepest secrets, and he felt an immense pity for the dark girl; to have her mind being read like a book by anyone, much less a villain like Malchior, when she was powerless to stop it, must have been a terrible experience.

"Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh…" Malchior laughed suddenly. "Ah, changeling…how you must have loved that dear girl of the earth…Terra, was it?"

Beast Boy froze. His hands quivered momentarily, and a fury in him rose that hadn't been known since the day he lost his first love. "Don't you _ever_ talk about her!" he shouted back.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…yes…Raven could see how much you cared for this girl…and thought you quite the fool for it…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Terra betrayed you, Beast Boy…she betrayed all of the Titans. How you can still care about her is beyond the both of us…Raven always thought you were a fool for still harboring feelings for that wretched girl…she did terrible things, changeling…hurtful things…you have no idea how much Raven hates that traitor…though I must admit, it's not as strong as her hate for me right about now…ha-ha-ha…"

"You…you don't know what you're talking about…" Beast Boy managed to say. "Raven may be cold, but she's not _that_ cold…she doesn't hate…"

"Really? You think so, changeling?" Malchior whispered. He turned up the corners of Raven's mouth into a sneer. "Then why has she been keeping from you the most important secret of all?"

"What? What secret?"

"Your friend Terra has been sealed away in stone for more than half a year now, hasn't she? And all this time you believed Raven has been searching, unsuccessfully, for a way to free her…"

Beast Boy's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying? That Raven hasn't been searching at all? I don't think so. I've seen her at it."

"No, changeling…I am saying that Raven has known the secret to freeing Terra for quite some time now. Ever since I first came into her life, to be precise…just one of the many spells she learned under my teachings. But she kept it a secret from you and all the other Titans…because she wanted Terra left in stone forever. She didn't care about how the rest of the Titans felt about her, least of all you, with your pathetic little crush…"

"_That's a lie_!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Didn't you ever wonder, changeling, when I was first defeated? Raven gained so much power thanks to me…she learned hundreds upon hundreds of new spells through me. Didn't it occur to you to wonder that maybe, just maybe, out of all those new spells, there might be _one_ that could free the titan of the earth from her prison?"

"If there was, Raven would have at least said something to us!" Beast Boy insisted. "Raven wouldn't hide something like that from us!"

"She did, changeling. And even now, as she's hearing me spill her secret, she's not sorry she did it…"

"_SHUT UP_!"

In a split second a green lion had crossed the distance between the two of them and pounced upon Raven/Malchior. Raven's body fell to the ground, the crushing weight of the lion's front paws pressing on her collarbone. Its foaming jaws were twisted into a furious snarl, and a guttural roar was issuing from deep in its throat.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh…going to…kill your friend…to get rid of me, are you?" the dragon-in-diguise choked out.

Beast Boy snarled louder.

"She…wants you to do it, you know…" Malchior said. "You should hear her…begging you to finish the job…she'd be free of my possession…free of me rooting through her every secret…free of her father's demonic essence…death would be a release for her, Beast Boy, if you would only grant it to her…heh-heh-heh…"

The changeling's eyes narrowed angrily.

"But you won't do it, will you? Heh-heh-heh…your kind never does…"

"BEAST BOY, NO!"

A blast of blue energy crashed into Beast Boy's flank, throwing him off Raven/Malchior and sending him skidding across the floor. He morphed back to elf form, shaking his head, and looked toward the source; it was Cyborg's sonic cannon.

"Yo, BB, what's your problem? Raven could've choked to death!"

The rest of the Titans knelt behind the metallic titan, tending to 'Raven.'

"Raven, please speak to us, it is your friends!" Starfire said, cradling the dark girl's head in her arms.

"NO! THAT'S NOT RAVEN!" Beast Boy shouted. "GET BACK, BEFORE…"

But the changeling was too late; a pulse of purple light exploded from Raven's body, hurling the rest of the Titans away in the same manner as Beast Boy.

"Serves you right," he said to Cyborg as they reoriented themselves. "I had her right where I wanted her 'till you blasted me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, man, I guess I should've realized that Raven was gonna try to KILL US!" Cyborg shot back. "Seriously, BB, we walk in and see you practically choking Rae to death, _what were we supposed to think_?"

"Cut it out, you two!" Robin ordered. He snapped his head back to 'Raven.' "Why did you attack us, Raven?"

"_Raven_ didn't attack you, my dear songbird," Malchior's voice issued from the dark girl's mouth. "_I_ did."

Robin's eyes bulged behind his eye-mask. "Malchior? But how…?"

Raven's lips curved into an evil smile. Her eyes flashed purple, and suddenly a dome of energy appeared around the other four Titans, sealing them within before they even noticed it had appeared.

"What the…?" Cyborg said, touching the dome wall. It was solid, and cold as ice.

"How pathetic…with one simple spell I have defeated all of you at once…ha-ha-ha-ha…and still you call yourself 'Titans?' You are not worthy of sharing a name with those great beings."

"Huh?" Beast Boy said. "You mean there are other Titans like us?"

"No, you fool!" Malchior snarled. "**Not** like _you_! The Titans were the greatest beings to ever walk the face of the earth! Their power was unequaled; even the gods of Mount Olympus were trembling in their togas in fear of the Titans!"

"Yeah? Well if they're so great, where are they now, huh?" Beast Boy shot back.

"Unfortunately, Hercules and his father, Zeus, somehow managed to seal the Titans away, locking them in a prison meant to hold them there forever, until they became the stuff of legends…much the same way I was imprisoned by that meddling wizard Rorek. But their imprisonment, like mine, ends at last tonight! The almighty Titans of old will live again…they will annihilate this world of common men…they will bring about the end of your team that dares to bear their name…and you will have a front row seat as the first of them returns!"

The Titans could do nothing but watch as Malchior closed Raven's eyes and thrust her arms out to her sides. A massive wind picked up, again lifting into the air everything that wasn't bolted to the ground. Just as before, the large desks and razor-sharp shards of glass swirled around in the wind, but Malchior's dome kept the Titans safe, while Malchior himself was repelling the objects before they could get close, keeping Raven's body safe. This time however, the wind did not stop growing in strength. It grew to rival the force of a tropical storm, and soon enough even the bolts holding down the heavy machinery were groaning under the pressure, and the walls and ceiling were beginning to split open.

"What in the world is going on?" Beast Boy said, marveling at the sight.

"He intends on raising these 'Titans' from a prison similar to the one he himself was in," Starfire recited, taking the changeling literally. "But Robin, I am confused…who are these other 'Titans' exactly?"

"They were beings of immense power in Greek mythology," Robin answered her. "Said to be almost as powerful as the gods of Mount Olypmus. There were five of them altogether…and they were the most feared creatures in all of Greek mythology; they killed many people and destroyed many villages before they were stopped. The ruler of the gods, Zeus, and his son Hercules defeated the Titans and sealed them away, supposedly forever…"

"And now Malchior intends to unleash them upon the world again?" Starfire gasped.

"It can't be, though," Robin said. "Its just mythology. Ancient stories. There's no way he could bring something back to life that never existed in the first case."

"Well he's sure as hell givin' it the old college try," Cyborg countered, jerking a thumb toward the dragon-in-disguise. The Titans looked again; while the dome was still shielding them from the wreckage swirling around them in the wind, the rest of the building wasn't so lucky. The walls and ceiling were nonexistent now, having torn away and joined the swirling debris moments earlier, and the bright colors of the setting sun bathed them all in bright reds and oranges. Malchior himself had risen Raven's body off the ground; they were now hovering just above where the roof had been, a good fifty feet in the air.

"He's chanting something," Cyborg said, noticing the dark girl's lips moving. "It sounds like he's speaking in Greek!"

"Raven doesn't know Greek, does she?" Beast Boy said.

"If she doesn't, apparently Malchior does," Robin said.

"Oh, I cannot bear to watch this! Is there no way to help our friend?" Starfire pleaded.

"Not while this dome is around us…" Cyborg said. "If Malchior is controlling Raven's powers as well as his own, this wall has got to be damn near impossible to break."

"Cyborg, can you translate what she's saying at all?" Robin asked.

"Not a word," Cyborg said. "I really should get a universal translator…it's hard enough never knowing what Mas y Menos are saying."

But it mattered no longer, for Malchior suddenly switched over to English.

"Speak to me, great Titans of old…I, Malchior, summon you…I, Malchior, grant you the power to break free of those chains that have bound you these many centuries! Rise, ancient beings, and reclaim this world that is rightfully yours! **RISE, TITANS, AND DESTROY THOSE WHO DARE DEFILE YOUR NAME!**"

The wind was gone instantly. With a crack louder than a thunderbolt the foundation of the building split open, forming a massive fissure in the ground. Earthquakes ripped through the landscape, sending the titans and the rest of the city falling to their knees. Nearby buildings, many of which were not nearly as abandoned as the warehouse, began to crumble under the massive magnitude of the earthquake; some were unlucky enough to be right in the path of the fissure and sunk down into the hole, taking the screaming people inside with it.

"No!" Robin shouted in frustration. "Malchior, stop this! Innocent lives are being lost! You're killing them, Malchior!"

"Exactly," the dragon-in-disguise sneered. "The raising of the Titans begins tonight, and your pathetic city will be their first victim. This city will succumb to the gaping maw of the earth…be crushed under the weight of her most powerful son! You will fall to the mercy…of the Earth Titan!"

A blazing yellow light erupted from the crater, followed quickly by an earsplitting roar of fury. And then…then, _it_ appeared.

A massive hand, twice as big as the T-sub, reached out from within the fissure. A second hand followed quickly. The wielder of the hands pulled itself out of the fissure and stood looming over them all, standing as tall as Titan's Tower. Its whole body was solid, tough, unyielding rock of a dark gray color, its form craggy and uneven. Short, stubby legs connected to a torso that looked like a small mountain. Two bobbing heads, two gaping mouths, and four glowing red eyes glared down at the crowd beneath it.

"I…I don't believe it…" Robin whispered.

"It…it's enormous…" Cyborg added.

"It is the Earth Titan, you fools…" Malchior said. "And it is what will rid this world of you once and for all…urk!"

Raven's hands suddenly clutched her head, and Malchior let out a scream.

"AAAAUUGH! NO! THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE! HOW ARE YOU…YOU CAN'T…YOU…NO…AAAAHH!"

An eruption of purple energy came from Raven's body; energy that quickly turned into lightless obsidian. In the same instant the dome around the other four titans also flashed black, before fading away entirely. The dark girl let out a groan of pain…and fell lifelessly from the sky.

"**RAVEN!**"

* * *


	7. Interlude: Escape

Clash of the Titansby CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"_You won't get away with this, you know."_

_Malchior, in his true dragon form, twisted his snakelike head, flared his scaly wings, and glared down at the cage at his feet. Contained within it were what looked like a dozen copies of Raven, each wearing a different color cloak. Grey was whimpering in a corner; Red and Green were hammering with all their strength at the bars, trying to break free and pummel the invader into pulp; Yellow was meditating, her thick glasses resting on the tip of her nose; Pink was humming to herself, trying to make the best of a bad situation; and the true Raven, wearing blue, was locking eyes with the dragon, her eyes encased in a deep obsidian that reflected off the black and red nightscape around her…the nightscape of her mind._

"_My friends will stop you. And they won't hesitate to kill me in order to do so, if that's what it takes."_

"_You know as well as I do that is a lie," Malchior hissed. "Perhaps if your friends were more like you, I **might** be worried. But they are all far too soft to even dream of doing such a deed."_

"_Wanna bet?" Raven snarled._

"_Very much. Let us experiment with the changeling, shall we? He's been fighting us as we speak…observe."_

_For the first time since the villain had taken control of Raven's body, he allowed the dark girl to see out of her own eyes. Beast Boy stood facing her._

"Ah, changeling…how you must have loved that dear girl of the earth…Terra, was it?" _she heard Malchior say._

_A chill ran down the dark girl's spine. "What are you doing?" she demanded._

_"Spilling your secrets, of course. What better way to goad him into killing you than to reveal what you've been hiding from him about Terra? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…"_

_Raven's hands clenched into fists, shaking. " You will pay for doing this to me, Malchior. I swear it."_

_"Empty threats," he dismissed her. " Now…observe."_

_Raven and her various emotions watched the exchange between Beast Boy and the dragon as the changeling slowly grew more and more angry. Malchior seemed to be truly enjoying himself, revealing Raven's secrets. And though the dark girl felt bad for him, she did not feel sorry. It was better this way. The more he believed her intentions had been hurtful, the easier it would be for him to get rid of her…even now she could see him pressing down on her collar with lion paws, snarling. She could almost feel it herself…_

_"Please, Beast Boy…don't worry about me…you have to kill the both of us…trust me…it's better this way…"_

_"He won't do it," Yellow interrupted her. "You know perfectly well he doesn't have it in him, no matter how angry he might get. I don't think even Robin would be able to kill you if there was a chance of stopping Malchior another way."_

_"Well, I don't see any 'other way,' do you?" Raven snapped._

_"As a matter of fact, I do," Yellow said. She turned her bespectacled eyes on two other figures. "Red! Green!"_

_The two Ravens in question ceased their assault on the bars and glared back. "**WHAT?**" they demanded together._

_"You want to get out of this cage and kick his ass?"_

_"Of course!" Green exclaimed. "Oooh, do you have a plan? You always have a plan! Does it involve major ass-kicking?"_

_"Indeed," Yellow nodded. "Come over here. All of you," she added, sweeping her eyes across the cage at the rainbow of Ravens._

_"This better be good," the true Raven growled._

_"Listen. You remember Malchior's little speech about the Titans of Greek mythology? He mentioned them for a reason. He intends on reviving them."_

_"Excuse me?" Raven said._

_"R-r-revive…the T-T-Titans?" Grey stuttered._

_"Awesome! More butt to kick!" Green shouted._

_"No. **Not** awesome," Yellow said. "Very bad, in fact. As things are now we don't have a chance in hell of stopping **one** of the Titans, let alone all five of them."_

_"You're telling me those Titans are **real**?" Raven exclaimed._

_"Yes."_

_"And Malchior knows how to revive them?"_

_"Yes. Now that he has control of our body, he has both his magic and ours to draw from. Between the two of us, he has enough magical power to revive the Titans. And that's exactly what he intends to do; use our power in addition to his own to summon the Titans to destroy the world of men."_

_"**Heh-heh-heh…sounds like my kind of guy,**" Red laughed. "**I say we should join him.**"_

_"You **would** say that," Raven muttered, shooting Red a glare, then turning back to Yellow. "Go on."_

_Yellow opened her mouth, but stopped short as she caught sight of Malchior. "Look…he's starting."_

_Raven turned and saw that Malchior had indeed taken his attention away from the cage full of Ravens and was chanting in what sounded like Greek._

_"Okay, listen up," Yellow said, speaking very fast now. "As you all know, this is a mental prison…the more focus Malchior keeps on it, the stronger it becomes. But summoning the Titans will take his attention away from us. It will take an immense amount of his concentration to summon just one of the Titans, let alone all five, so he probably intends to raise them one by one. By consequence, the strength of our prison will greatly diminish. If we focus our power together we can break free of this cage when his concentration is at its weakest, and put him in the cage in our place."_

_"Right. Put him in the cage…and how do we do that, exactly?"_

_"By kicking his big scaly butt!" Green exclaimed._

_"Precisely," Yellow nodded._

_"And what about this one?" Raven gestured at Red. _

_"Red, I trust you won't make this difficult for us?" Yellow said, glancing over briefly. "I'm sure you don't like the idea of this dragon controlling us any more than we do. And don't think about trying to overthrow us once we get back in control, because you won't be able to contain Malchior alone, and he'll just take over again."_

_"**I know, fool, I'm not incompetent! Grr…I suppose there will be other opportunities to consume this body…**"_

_"Good…now we just have to-"_

_"Wait a second!" Raven interrupted. "This doesn't add up…how will we know when he's at his weakest?"_

_Yellow averted her eyes; and that was all the answer Raven needed._

_"We're going to wait until he summons the first Titan, aren't we?"_

_"We don't have a choice," Yellow said. "That's when he's at his weakest, it's the only way we can get free. But listen, I have a plan for stopping the Titan, too."_

_"What plan?"_

_"Malchior is reviving the Earth Titan first…I can tell from the incantations he's chanting. As it is, none of **our** titans will be able to stop it…so we must fight fire with fire…or in this case…earth with earth."_

_"Fight earth with earth? What's that supposed to m-" Raven suddenly froze, the answer coming to her in one massive flash. "No way…"_

_"It's the only way, Raven," Yellow insisted. "Forget about your personal feelings. It's the **only** way."_

_"I…"_

_"There's no time! The incantation is almost complete!" Yellow shouted. "Everybody, get ready…on my mark, we focus all our power together and break this cage…"_

_"And then make mincemeat of dragon boy! Woo-hoo! Let's DO IT!" Green shouted._

"Speak to me, great Titans of old…" _they heard the villain saying. _"I, Malchior, summon you…I, Malchior, grant you the power to break free of those chains that have bound you these many centuries!"

_Yellow locked eyes with Raven one last time. "It's the **only** way, Raven…I hope you can keep that in mind…"_

"Rise, ancient beings, and reclaim this world that is rightfully yours! **RISE, TITANS, AND DESTROY THOSE WHO DARE DEFILE YOUR NAME!**"

_"NOW!" Yellow urged. Together, a mass of eyes flared obsidian, and the bars of the cage glowed the same. They warped and groaned under the combined mental assault; Malchior's summoning was taking his concentration away from the mental prison almost entirely, and with hardly much effort at all, the bars broke._

_"NOW, CHARGE HIM!"_

_The Ravens soared upward (Grey lagging in the rear, trembling) toward Malchior's serpent-like head. He was so focused on the Earth Titan that was climbing its way out of the ground out in the real world that he was completely oblivious to the assault. He was too busy gloating at the other titans to notice as Green positioned herself at the back of Malchior's head and drew back her fist…_

"It is the Earth Titan, you fools…" _he was growling at the four titans below him. _"And it is what will rid this world of you once and for all…urk!"

_His speech was cut off as Green plowed her fist as hard as she could into the back of Malchior's head. As soon as it twisted around to face her she delivered a second punch to his snout, causing him to roar in pain. Red fired a blast of red energy from her eyes and struck him in the stomach; Yellow cast a handful of spells that disoriented the dragon; Grey held back, casting protective magic on her fellow Ravens and too fearful of the dragon to get close and fight. Green meanwhile had encased Malchior's tail in black energy and was swinging it back and forth, smacking him across the face with it._

_"Stop hittin' yourself, stop hittin' yourself, stop hittin' yourself, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Pink giggled at the sight._

_The true Raven hovered above the dragon, eyes closed and hands clenched. Both were filled to bursting with her dark energy, and it was crackling around her like lightning. Malchior, entirely consumed by the assault of the other Ravens, noticed nothing as Raven summoned more and more power into one massive spell._

_"Hey, Romeo!" she called to him at last. "Let's see how you like being crammed into a cage!"_

_Right on cue the other Ravens scattered, clearing the way for the final attack. They formed a circle around the battered dragon, raised their own hands to the sky, and chanted together:_

_"**AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!**"_

_A dozen chains of black energy streamed from the hands of Raven's emotions, granting their power to the true Raven above them and effectively preventing Malchior from going anywhere._

_"Now, Malchior, if you'd be so kind…GIVE ME MY DAMN BODY BACK!"_

_Raven fired her combined energies straight down, where it ripped into the villain effortlessly and caused him to shriek in agony._

"AAAAUUGH! NO! THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE! HOW ARE YOU…YOU CAN'T…YOU…NO…AAAAHH!"

_The dragon suddenly and rapidly began shrinking, down and down to the ground until he was no bigger than any of the Ravens surrounding him, gasping in pain. Green stepped forward, grabbed the miniature lizard by the neck, and lifted him off the ground, smirking._

_"Guess what, dragon-dude? WE TOTALLY KICKED YOUR ASS!"_

_And with a huge grin she spun around and hurled the beast through the gaping hole in the cage they had made. He slammed hard against the bars on the opposite side, and before he could even begin to recover, the broken bars bent and warped back into their original positions and sealed seamlessly, locking the villain inside at last._

_The moment he was within, Raven felt her mind…expanding, she supposed was the right word…expanding out from her head and filling in the emptiness of her body. She was going back...she was in control again..._

_She closed her eyes momentarily…and when she opened them again, she could see the real world once more. The warehouse had been demolished during the summoning, so that the setting sun warmed her back. Her friends were there, looking terrified as they glanced back and forth between her and the Earth Titan below her. She wanted to call out to them, to assure them she was finally free…but between the stolen energy Malchior had spent and the energy she herself had spent to break free of him, she was beat, and a wave of utter exhaustion hit her at last. She plummeted from the sky like a rock, her mind and body going blissfully blank and numb…and the last thing she could hear before she blacked out was the titans collectively screaming her name…_

"**RAVEN!**"

* * *


	8. Awakening, Part 3

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Starfire and Beast Boy, as the only remaining Titans who could fly, sped toward Raven as fast as they could, neither of them paying any attention to the huge Earth Titan that stood between them and their falling friend; an error that cost them almost immediately. The Earth Titan bellowed an earthshaking roar and swung one massive hand downward toward the pair. Starfire just barely managed to dodge the swing and slip through under the monster's armpit; Beast Boy, however, wasn't so lucky. The Earth Titan swatted the changeling like a fly, sending his pterodactyl body careening unglamorously in the opposite direction. Beast Boy righted himself quickly enough, but the moment he began to flap his wings he let out a screech of pain. He glided to the ground and de-morphed immediately, clutching his left arm and writhing in agony.

Starfire meanwhile, unaware of the changeling's predicament, reached Raven and caught her limp form well clear of the ground. She turned and began to circle around, noticing Beast Boy's absence, and heard his screech just as she noticed him too heading for the ground rapidly.

"BEAST BOY!" she shouted.

Cyborg and Robin ran to the changeling's side as he made his rough landing and knelt beside him to inspect the damage.

"Looks like that hit popped the bone in your upper arm out of its socket," Cyborg said, sweeping over Beast Boy with the scanner in his forearm. "Damaged some muscle tissue, too…I can pop the bone back in place, but we'll need Raven to heal the muscle tissue…"

"Owowowowowowowowowow…" the changeling moaned.

"Hold on, BB, I'm gonna get the bone back it place…" Cyborg said, placing one hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and the other around his arm. "Brace yourself, this is gonna hurt…"

"C-can't b-be any w-worse than it a-already is, eh-YYYYYEEEEEOOOOOOOWWW!"

Cyborg jerked the changeling's arm in one swift motion, returning the bone to its proper place, which left Beast Boy gasping in pain but otherwise good as new…mostly.

"Try not to use that arm much, BB," Cyborg said. "Don't want you tearing up the muscle any worse than it already is…"

Starfire touched down with Raven in her arms a second later. "Beast Boy is all right?"

"Yeah…but he's going to need some healing from Raven. If he does much more with that arm he'll just cause more muscle damage," Cyborg explained. "Too much of it and not even Raven will be able to heal him; he'll lose the use of his arm for good."

"We can't afford that," Robin said. "Beast Boy, can you get Raven back to the Tower without using that arm too much?"

"Y-yeah, I can do it," Beast Boy said.

"All right. Get her and yourself to safety. We'll try to deal with the Earth Titan."

"But what if she wakes up and Malchior still has control of her?"

"I don't think he does. Raven took back control right before she passed out."

"But be careful just in case, BB," Cyborg added.

"Okay…you can count on me," the changeling said. "You guys be careful too, okay?"

He transformed into a green gorilla and lifted Raven's unconscious form out of Starfire's arms and draped her carefully over the shoulder of his good arm. With a quick nod to his teammates, he ran off toward the Tower.

"Okay, Titans…" Robin said, eyeing the monstrous Earth Titan. "Any ideas on how to beat him?"

The Earth Titan was ignoring the team completely, instead amusing himself by ripping up streets and sidewalks with his bare hands. Abandoned cars were being flung hundreds of feet away, and the faint drone of the citizens of the city screaming and they fled the scene was ringing in the titans' ears.

"Man…look at it…it's as big as the Tower…" Cyborg commented.

"I fear that our usual tactics will prove ineffective against this monster," Starfire said. "It appears to possess a most immense power."

"You said it, girl," Cyborg muttered. "This thing may be too much for us to handle, Rob…I mean…the Greek Gods were afraid of these guys, and they were…well…Gods! How could we even stand a chance?"

"We won't know until we try," Robin said, but even he spoke with less than his usual level of intensity. "Let's start by drawing him out to the quarry before he hurts anyone else. Titans, go!"

* * *

Beast Boy arrived at Titan's Tower within half an hour and laid Raven down on the medical bed, wincing with the strain that the effort put on his damaged arm. She stirred slightly as he put the covers over her, but she didn't wake up. Once the dark girl was settled, Beast Boy turned to the window and drew back the curtains. Twilight poured into the room; the sun had almost set. The changeling scanned the cityscape, trying to see the massive silhouette of the Earth Titan. He found it in the general direction of the abandoned quarry, stomping around aimlessly. Streams of blue and green could be seen criss-crossing around the monster from Cyborg and Starfire's attacks, and he could just make out the small flashes of fire from Robin's explosive birdarangs and bomb pellets. 

_The quarry…_

For the fourth time that day, Beast Boy found his thoughts filled with memories of the earth maiden, Terra. The quarry had been the site of her first real battle alongside the Teen Titans…she had handled herself decently well for being a newbie…until her lack of control became plainly evident when she'd accidentally brought a cave-in down on top of the changeling. He'd been perfectly all right, of course, but it had driven Terra away in fear and shame…and when he found her again, her powers were raging in an unhindered tornado.

The moment they'd shared then…when he helped Terra regain control of herself…that was a moment Beast Boy couldn't help but hold especially close to his heart. He had been there for her when she'd needed it desperately. It was the last truly pure memory he had of her…before she ran away from the titans over an unfortunate misunderstanding. Before she sought out Slade and betrayed them all. Before Beast Boy himself turned away from her when she needed him once again. Before she had given herself completely to save him…

Beast Boy shook his head to clear it. Now was not a good time to get lost on memory lane. His friends were battling a monster of insane power, and from the looks of it, as the blue and green lasers and flashes of explosives pummeled the massive Titan, they were not faring well. It seemed utterly immune to their attacks. The changeling wanted to help, but he had no clue how; aside from not wanting to leave Raven unprotected – or unguarded, if that became necessary – he couldn't do anything with his arm the way it was…

The moment that thought passed through his head, however, there was a flash of onyx light; he glanced down and saw his injured arm wrapped in the light. A strange tingling sensation washed over the injured area, and when it passed, the ache and pain was abruptly gone. He glanced at the bed and saw Raven sitting up in it, her hand pointing at him and her eyes, thankfully, back to their normal color.

"You're awake…" Beast Boy said.

"Yeah," Raven said.

"And you're…um…yourself again…right?"

"For the moment," Raven said. "How's your arm?"

"Good," he said, flexing it experimentally. "How'd you know…?"

Raven gave him a half-hearted smirk.

Beast Boy returned it. "Right…mind-reader…well…thanks."

"Don't mention it." The dark girl glanced out the window at the rampaging rock monster. "I'm sorry…I couldn't stop Malchior from completing the summoning."

"It's not your fault," Beast Boy assured her. "But look, we better get back to the others, the can't do much against the Earth Titan alone…"

"No."

Beast Boy stopped mid-sentence, frowning. "What do you mean, 'no?' We aren't going to help them?"

"Even if we did, as things are, we wouldn't make an ounce of difference," Raven snarled, her temper flaring quickly. "We're not much more than a bunch of flies to that monster."

"Okay, okay, no need to bite my head off!"

Raven squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "I…I'm sorry, Beast Boy…it's just…hard. Malchior isn't in control anymore, but he's still in my head, and he's trying to get back out…summoning the Earth Titan weakened him, but he's slowly regaining strength…I won't be able to hold him at bay forever."

Beast Boy paled. "You mean…he might be able to take over your body again?"

"Not 'might,' Beast Boy…_will_."

The changeling reflexively took a step back.

"I can keep him at bay for a while…a few hours, maybe," Raven went on. "We need to make it count. We have to stop the Earth Titan, fast."

"But how?" Beast Boy said. "You said yourself we can't fight it…"

"No. _We_ can't…" Raven said, letting out a pained sigh. "But…"

"But what?"

Raven avoided Beast Boy's eyes as she finished.

"But…I know who can."

"You do? Who?"

"Someone who can fight the Earth Titan on his own playing field…beat him at his own game…who can fight fire with fire…or in our case…fight earth with earth."

Beast Boy's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to interpret Raven's words…it took about a minute before it clicked in his mind, and a massive array of emotions began fighting for control of his expression. _It can't be…can it…?_

"To fight the Earth Titan…" Raven said, "…we need an 'Earth Titan' of our own…"

"You…you mean…?"

"Yes…we need Terra. And…"

"And what…?" the changeling whispered, at a loss for words.

"And…I know how to get her back."

* * *

**END ACT ONE

* * *

**


	9. ACT TWO: Trust

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**ACT TWO**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"HAH!"

From both her hands and both her eyes, Starfire shot streams of fiery green energy at the Earth Titan's two tiny heads, their glow lighting up the quarry. Cyborg added to the assault with his sonic cannon, smothering the monster's short, stubby legs in blue lightning. And Robin topped it off with a fan of explosive birdarangs, pelting the creature's middle with the miniature bombs.

For all the damage it did, they might as well have been mosquito bites.

The Earth Titan shrugged the attack off with a mighty roar and hammered the ground with one foot, splitting the ground beneath the teens into a fissure. Robin and Cyborg leapt sideways while Starfire floated safely away, while the fissure ripped onward, passing beneath a bulldozer. The machine fell into the fresh rip in the Earth and stopped some fifty feet down where it wedged between the walls.

"He's got to have a weak spot!" Robin insisted. "Star, try aiming for his eyes!"

Starfire nodded and flew upward to meet the Titan head-on. The monster swung two massive hands forward at frightening speed, trying to sandwich the Tamaranian, but she slipped through his grasp and fired a more precise blast at the creature's eyes. It let out a roar as the shot connected, but it was not a roar of pain; all she had succeeded at was making it angry. It raised a hand again and managed to grab Starfire around her middle, pinning her arms. It raised her high up above its head, roared again, and began to squeeze. Starfire pushed outward with her arms as hard as she could manage in her position, but even her Tamaranian strength was no match for the Earth Titan's crushing grip, and her consciousness was quickly leaving her…

"HANG ON, STAR!" Robin shouted. He whipped out a grappling hook and fired; it looped around and caught on the shoulder of the arm holding Starfire. He reeled himself up and onto the Earth Titan, whipping out another explosive – a much, much stronger one this time – and slapped it on the creature's bicep. It latched on and emitted a loud, high-pitched series of beeps, and a counter began blinking backwards from five.

Robin dashed down the length of the monster's arm toward Starfire's limp form; the bomb exploded just as he reached her, completely severing the arm from the rest of the Earth Titan's body. The hand's grip on Starfire loosened enough for Robin to sweep her into his arms and leap away as the severed limb began to fall. He fired the grappling hook again, and it looped around the neck of a nearby crane. He swung to safety with Starfire over one shoulder, landing smoothly on the roof of the crane's driver compartment.

"You okay, Star?" Robin asked, cradling her head in one hand as she recovered.

"Mmm…" she moaned. "I have…seen better days…"

A resounding crash stole their attention; the Earth Titan's arm hit the ground and smashed into pieces all over the quarry, motionless.

"All right, that got him!" Robin exclaimed. "Now we know how to hurt him…Cyborg, get ready for another attack run! This time we'll…we'll…"

Robin trailed off and stared in awe as the fragments of the Earth Titan's arm suddenly began glowing with a dull yellow light. The pieces shuddered in place, and then, as though they were magnetized, the hunks of rock slid along the ground toward the monster's legs.

"What the hell…?" Cyborg muttered.

The shattered arm was literally absorbed into the body of the Earth Titan, gone without a trace; that is, until the stub where its arm used to be began to glow as well.

"Uh-oh…" Robin said, sensing what was coming next.

Sure enough, the broken rock reformed piece by piece until the monster's arm was restored to its original form. With another deafening roar its arms extended, shooting like pillars of solid rock at the Titans. Robin scooped Starfire into his arms again and leapt away from one pile-driving hand while Cyborg back-pedaled away from where the second struck the ground.

"We're not getting anywhere, Rob," Cyborg pointed out. "We can't last like this forever, and I don't think big-tall-and-ugly here is gonna be gettin' tired any time soon!"

"As unfortunate as it sounds, Cyborg is correct, Robin," Starfire said. "We cannot expect to fight this monster and win in our present situation."

"What should we do Rob?" Cyborg asked.

"The only thing we _can_ do…"

Robin set Starfire down, pulled out his staff, and spun it between his fingers, glaring at the monster before him.

"…We fight anyway."

And without waiting for the other two, the Boy Wonder charged.

* * *

For the entire trip from Titans Tower to Slade's one-time lair where Terra's statue now stood, Beast Boy flew silently alongside Raven, stewing over everything in his head. How Raven had told him she could bring back Terra from her stone prison. How she was the key to stopping the Earth Titan rampaging through the city. How after more than six long, torturous months of being without her, the love of Beast Boy's life could walk the earth again. Every emotion he knew of, and some he didn't, ran through him at one time or another along the way. And by the time they had landed at their destination and Beast Boy could stay silent no more, it was simply their bad luck that at that moment, it just so happened to be anger that filled the changeling's heart. 

"Malchior was telling the truth, wasn't he?" the green titan snarled as he resumed his elf form. "You've known how to free her for a long time now…ever since dragon boy first came along…haven't you?"

Raven refused to meet his eyes. That was answer enough.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he demanded. "Why did you let us go on thinking we couldn't bring her back? _Why did you let her sit down here and rot all this time?_"

"Terra betrayed us, Beast Boy!" Raven snapped, glaring at him. "She betrayed _me_, she betrayed _you_, she betrayed _all of us_! The _only_ reason I'm freeing her now is because she's our only hope of stopping the Earth Titan. Otherwise she'd be staying right where she is. As far as I'm concerned she deserves to sit down here and rot for the rest of time!"

Beast Boy's arm shot out and grabbed Raven by the front of her cloak, yanking her forward until their faces were hardly an inch apart.

"THAT'S NOT YOUR CHOICE TO MAKE!" he shouted so loudly that his words echoed off the cave walls.

"You're touching me…" Raven growled.

Beast Boy shoved the dark girl away, hard enough so that she stumbled and fell backward to the cave floor.

"You think Terra deserves to be down here, fine," Beast Boy hissed. "But I don't. And I doubt Robin or Star or Cyborg think she deserves it either. You should've told us the truth, Raven! This is a human life; it's _Terra's_ life. She was our friend. You can't condemn her like this all on your own! It's something we should all have decided on, together!"

Raven's own anger flared with a dull red aura of light. "**_Why? So you soft-hearted fools can set her free and lead her to betray us a second time? She's done it once, and she will do it again!_**"

"You don't know that!" Beast Boy countered. "You may think she's not worthy of trust anymore, Raven…but I knew her better than any of you, better even than Slade did, and I _do_ believe we can trust her again. I believe she's changed. I believe she's sorry."

Raven breathed deeply, forcing her anger back down below the surface as she got to her feet. "Look, it doesn't matter any more. You win, okay? We need her help now, and in order to get it, we need her out of that statue. So get over here and help me."

Beast Boy took a calming breath of his own, and slowly followed the dark girl to the foot of the statue. He looked up at Terra's body; her arms were spread wide, her eyes to the ceiling, her face peaceful…serene…to him, she looked like an angel…

"A _fallen_ angel," Raven murmured.

Beast Boy glared. "I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Not like I can help it," she countered. "Your mind isn't thinking about anything else right now. I couldn't block out your thoughts of her even if I tried. And I thought I told you to come over here and help me?"

Beast Boy moved next to Raven. "What do you need my help for?"

"Come here…" Raven pulled on Beast Boy's arms. With a flash of obsidian, the material of beast Boy's uniform around his arms shredded apart, exposing the green flesh beneath. She began muttering strange words under her breath and tracing her fingers in erratic patterns along the changeling's skin. As he watched, markings appeared where her fingers traced, adorning his skin like tattoos.

"What are these things?" he asked when she finished.

"Runes," she answered. "They mark you as one who holds a bond with the life that this spell is designed to revive. For the spell to work, I need someone with a strong connection to Terra, to help bring her back. Her consciousness is buried deep right now, physically _and_ spiritually…if your connection with her is as strong as you think, you should work fine in helping her come back, if this works right."

Beast Boy started to nod along, but froze as he finished processing Raven's words. "What do you mean, _IF_ this works?" he asked suspiciously.

Raven sighed. "There was…another reason I didn't try to revived her with this particular spell…"

"What reason?"

"It's not guaranteed to work. The better I can maintain control and the stronger the connection between her and whoever would help bring her consciousness back, the better the chances are of it succeeding. But if something goes wrong…if your connection with her isn't strong enough…or if I lose control…it could destroy her stone body completely."

"It…it could kill her?"

"Yes."

"No! Forget it!" Beast Boy shouted. "We're not going to risk killing her! No way!"

"It's our only chance, Beast Boy," Raven reminded him. "We don't have time to argue about this. Robin and the others are fighting the Earth Titan as we speak, and losing. Terra's the only one who can fight it. We have to try to bring her back."

"And what if we can't?" the changeling demanded. "What if this spell doesn't work? _What if she dies, Raven_?"

Raven shut her eyes, and when she answered, the changeling heard her voice tremble.

"Then the rest of the world won't be far behind."

Beast Boy had no response to that. He glanced back and forth between the two girls, as though weighing the risks…and the obvious choice became clear to him. "All right, then…let's do this."

Raven nodded. "Stand here," she pointed, "and face Terra. I want you to clear your mind of everything except her. Focus _only_ on Terra."

"Shouldn't be too hard…" the jokester couldn't help but mutter.

Raven ignored the remark. "You're going to feel the runes I painted on your arms grow hot. Try to bear it. Remember, don't concern yourself with what I'm doing. Focus on Terra. Nothing else."

Beast Boy nodded. He'd already, in fact, begun to do just that.

Raven sat cross-legged directly behind the changeling and waved her hands. A circle of runes appeared around her, glowing a pale blue. She closed her eyes…a second later the green titan did too…

And with a sudden murmur of chanting from behind him and a rush of heat burning on his arms, Beast Boy's whole world changed.

* * *

_Terra…I can feel you here…you're so close by…where are you…?_

'…_Beast…Boy…?'_

_Terra…I'm here for you…come back to me, Terra._

'_Beast Boy…where are you? It…it's so dark…s-so c-cold…'_

_Fight it, Terra! Fight the cold! Fight the darkness! I can help you, Terra; I'm here to bring you back!_

'_Why…? Why would you…help me?'_

_Now's not the time, Terra, just trust me! Reach out, I'm here!_

'…_Trust…?'_

_Yes! Trust me, Terra! Come back!_

'_I…I can't…'_

_Yes you can!_

'_No…I…'_

_YES you can, Terra! I believe in you! I've always believed in you!_

'…_?'_

_Come back, Terra!_

'_I…can…'_

_YES! COME BACK, TERRA! COME BACK!

* * *

_

"COME BACK!"

The changeling was suddenly aware of himself again, and the burning runes along his arms were making his eye water with pain. A light wind was blowing, tracing circles around the three titans. Beast Boy stood his ground, burning and all, and kept his eyes locked on Terra. He had no idea what Raven had done to send him on that little mental field trip, and he had no idea what she was doing now, but he didn't care. Every ounce of his will was focused on Terra.

_Crack-crack-crack!_

Beast Boy gasped. A jagged split tore like a lightning bolt down the length of one of the earth maiden's arms. A second later another traced its way down her other arm…and another diagonally across her front.

"NO! TERRA!" Beast Boy shouted. "Raven, stop, it's going to break her apart!"

"I can't…it's too late…to stop…" she grunted through the strain. "But she's here…she's so close…keep focusing, Beast Boy…she's almost out!"

Beast Boy leapt up on the pedestal, his terrified green face inches from the stone mask of Terra's. "Don't die on me, Terra! We haven't come this far just to lose now! You hear me, Terra? COME BACK!"

_CRACK!_

The stone mask split, and for a second Beast Boy almost lost all hope…until the fresh crack began to glow with a familiar, pale-yellow light…

"Terra…?"

The glow traced its way down each of the existing cracks, growing stronger by the moment. The whole underground cavern suddenly stared shaking, causing loose rocks to tumble down the slope of the hard ground.

"Terra…!"

"Her power…it's waking up…we did it…" Raven whispered from right behind him.

"**RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH**!"

Terra's scream was ringing in the changeling's ears, but he didn't care, she was waking up…she was coming back…

A sharp tug on the back of his shirt told him Raven had yanked him down off the ledge to take cover, and Beast Boy realized why a second later; with a massive flare of gold, chunks of stone exploded from the top of the pedestal in every direction, burying themselves in the walls and ceiling. Beast Boy leapt up and looked again, only to find that the statue was no longer there; in its place, cold, naked, and covered in dirt…was Terra; emerged from the stone like a butterfly from its cocoon.

Her sky-blue eyes sparkled for a bare moment as they found the beady black eyes of the changeling, before they drooped and closed.

"Unnh…Beast…Boy…"

She pitched forward, her consciousness gone; without even having to think about it Beast Boy stepped forward and caught her in his arms. He could feel her slow, steady breaths on his shoulder, the earthen scent of her hair and skin…it was her…she was really alive…in the flesh…

A little too literally, he suddenly realized.

He squeezed his eyes shut before he could see too much and gestured to Raven. "Do you, uh…think she could borrow your cloak for a bit?"

"Unnhh…fine…" Raven muttered. She swept the garment off in one fluid motion and tossed it over. Beast Boy caught it and laid it over Terra's shivering form and rubbed it over her arms, trying to warm her a little.

"We should get her back to the Tower…get her some clothes," Beast Boy said.

"Fine. But we can't waste too much time. The others are still fighting the Earth Titan, but they can't last forever. We have to get Terra there to help them."

Beast Boy nodded agreement. He quickly took on the form of a gorilla, lifted Terra's sleeping form, and cradled her in his arms like a child. And as he carried her back to the Tower, he found he had never been happier. The imminent battle with the Earth Titan seemed far away. Right then, it seemed to the changeling, all that mattered in the world, he was holding in his arms.

_We did it, Terra…you're home._

* * *


	10. Old Wounds

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Hey, Raven…?"

"What, Beast Boy?"

"Um…when the spell…y'know, uh…freed her…um…is there some reason that her, uh…clothes didn't come along for the ride?"

Raven glared at the changeling, whose reddening face made him look a lot like Christmas. "I don't seem to remember _clothes_ ever being alive. That spell doesn't have any effect on things that aren't living. Besides…the last thing she was wearing was Slade's uniform. Not that I care, but do you really think the first thing she wants to see when she wakes up is _that_?"

Beast Boy winced. "Right…good point."

Raven and Beast Boy were in the Tower's infirmary; Raven stood near the window watching the Earth Titan fighting their friends in the distance; she could barely see it anymore now that night had fallen, save for the flashes of light and fire from their various weapons. Beast Boy sat beside the medical bed where they'd placed Terra, holding her hand as she dozed. Raven had taken her cloak back and given the blonde girl a hospital gown to wear, while Beast Boy brought some of her spare clothes down from her old room for when she woke up. They had been there for almost half an hour, waiting for the earth maiden to awaken.

"I'm worried about the others, Beast Boy," Raven said. "Their senses are growing slowly weaker. They're wearing out. We have to get Terra over there."

"But she's not awake yet…"

"Then wake her up!" Raven snapped. A second later a grimace crossed her face and she placed a hand to her forehead. "Unnh…sorry…I…"

"I know," Beast Boy nodded. "Malchior?"

"He's getting stronger," Raven said. "I won't be able to hold him back for much longer. Look, Beast Boy…once Terra stops the Earth Titan, you and the others have to…"

"Nuh-uh. No way," Beast Boy cut her off. "I know what you're gonna say, and you can just forget it, all right? We're not gonna sacrifice you just to get rid of Malchior. It's not worth it."

"And what would _you_ know of _worth_?" she snapped again. "You fell in love with a traitor!"

"This isn't about Terra!" Beast Boy countered. "Look, Raven, we'll get rid of him, okay? And we'll do it without getting rid of you too. I don't know how, but we will."

"Don't you get it, you idiot?" Raven said. "I don't want to be controlled again. I don't want to go back to being a prisoner in my own head. I don't want to go back to standing helplessly on the sidelines while someone uses me against my friends. When the time comes, you have to do it, Beast Boy. You have to kill me. It…it's better this way."

"Better for who, Raven?" the changeling demanded, glaring at her from across the medical bed. "You? Cuz it definitely not better for us! I don't remember you ever being so selfish. You think it'd be easy for any of us to kill one of our best friends in cold blood just to stop some ghost? You might think that'd save us a lot of pain, but y'know what, Raven? If we killed you to stop Malchior, it'd hurt us a lot worse in the long run than anything Malchior could do."

Raven stared at Beast Boy, shocked that he had made such a good point. It wasn't a feat he accomplished often. And he wasn't done yet.

"And besides, if he's some ghost possessing you, what's to stop him from jumping out of your body at the last second? You'd die for no reason, and Malchior would just possess somebody else…maybe even one of us. Is that what you want?"

Raven's face paled, if that was possible, horrified. _God, no! Of course I don't want that! How could I have overlooked that?_

"N-no…I'd never…" she muttered.

Beast Boy held his glare for another moment, but then it softened as he realized the conflict in her expression. "Hey, I didn't mean…"

"It's fine," Raven said. "You…you're right. I…never thought about it that way. How did you come up with that?"

"_Mega-Horror-Theatre_ episode twenty-nine," he answered promptly with his usual goofy grin. "The chick got possessed by the ghost of her evil ex-boyfriend, and the hunky new guy she liked killed her trying to get rid of the ghost, but…"

"I get it, Beast Boy," she tried to cut him off, but he kept going.

"…the ghost jumped out of her, and she died, and then the guy was all like, 'NOOOOOO!' and then the ghost possessed him too and killed everyone! It was the episode right after the one with the mind control chip."

"Fascinating," Raven growled. "All right, look, I admit you have a good point, but that still doesn't help us figure out how to stop Malchior when he takes control again. How do we…"

"Uunnhh…" a feminine groan uttered suddenly, cutting her off.

Beast Boy's head snapped sideways and his eyes, as they focused on Terra, bulged. She was stirring.

"Terra? C'mon, Terra, wake up," he said, gripping her hand.

The blonde girl's eyes fluttered half-open, looking sleepily at the changeling. He felt her hand ever-so-slightly squeeze his in response, and Beast Boy broke out into a relieved grin.

"Terra…thank God you're back…"

The corners of her mouth tugged into a half-smile, but faded a moment later, and frown overcame her instead. And suddenly her eyes were as big as saucers. She sat bolt upright in bed with a sharp gasp. She pulled her hand away from Beast Boy's and stared at it in amazement, like she couldn't believe it was there.

"I…I'm…not dead…what…?"

"You never were," Raven said, not looking at her. "When you stopped the volcano, you spent so much power that you turned your own body to stone. You've been that way for the last six months."

"Stone…? I was…" The earth maiden's eyes widened further. "_Six months?_ I've been gone for SIX MONTHS?"

"It doesn't matter," Beast Boy said. "You're back now, that's all I care about."

She turned to stare at Beast Boy, like she was seeing him for the first time. "I've been…frozen in stone?"

Beast Boy nodded. "We've been trying to find a way to free you for a long time now…" Beast Boy hesitated, wondering how much to tell her about Raven's deception, and decided to not say anything of it. "Raven finally found a spell that could bring you back. And, well…heh…looks like it worked, huh?"

Terra brought up her hands and laid them over her heart. "I don't believe it…I'm alive…I thought for sure I'd be toast…this is…"

Another wave of surprise came over her then as she abruptly began feeling around her shoulders and upper body. "The uniform…it's gone…" she said with obvious relief. "But I thought…S-Slade…he said…"

"Oh, yeah, that…" Beast Boy said, reddening again. "Well, um…the spell Raven used, it uh…won't work on things that aren't alive, and well, clothes aren't alive, so the uniform stayed stone and you kinda…um…came out in your birthday suit…um, I didn't see anything, I swear!" he added, waving his hands frantically.

Terra breathed a sigh of relief, though not due to her earlier nakedness. "When he said it was a part of me now…I thought…I thought I'd be stuck with that thing forever…oh, thank God it's gone…"

"Yeah, that wouldn't have been…" Beast Boy hesitated as he saw a tear falling down her cheek.

"…Terra…?"

"…Why?" she whispered.

"Why what?" he said.

"Why…did you free me? After everything…everything I did to you…you still…you didn't…leave me there…"

"Trust me, I wanted to."

Beast Boy paled. "Raven!"

Terra turned to the dark girl, surprised. "What…?"

"Let's be clear on a few things, Terra," Raven said, moving over to stand face to face with the earth maiden and glaring at her. "As far as I'm concerned you _should_ still be down in that cave, rotting away as a statue for the rest of your life. What you did to us was unforgivable, and if I had a choice, I never would've revived you."

"Raven, stop it!" Beast Boy shouted. Raven ignored him.

"But the fact is, that's not an option. We…the city, I mean…needs your help."

Terra's eyes fell to the floor. "Raven…I…I'm sorry…I don't blame you for hating me…"

"_Sorry_ isn't going to cut it…traitor."

Terra flinched at the word; it stung, badly.

"Raven, will you shut up already?" Beast Boy demanded. He looked back at Terra and gripped her hand in both of his. "Look, Terra, don't listen to her. It's okay. I forgive you. I'm still your friend, remember? I'll always be your friend."

"I don't deserve a friend like you," she answered, trying to pull her hand away. "I did…so many bad things…Raven's right, I should still be down there!"

Beast Boy refused to let go of her hand. "That's not true, Terra…"

"Yes it is," she insisted. "I hurt so many people…I almost killed all of you…"

"Both of you, shut up," Raven said. "This isn't the time. We have more serious issues right now."

Beast Boy sighed. "Terra…Raven's right…I wish we had time to talk, but right now we need your help."

"You need…m-my help?"

"Yeah. Really badly."

"But…why me?"

"There's a gigantic monster ripping up the city," Raven said. "The others are fighting it as we speak. Fighting and losing."

Terra's eyes widened. "Starfire? And Robin, and Cyborg? They're in danger?"

"Yes."

"But…why do you need _my_ help?"

"Because this monster is an earth elemental. Like you. In fact, its entire body is made of rock and earth. The rest of us haven't stood a chance against it so far…but you just might."

Terra looked away. "But…after everything I did…I couldn't just go back to being a Titan, just like that…"

"You were _NEVER_ a Titan!" Raven snarled.

"RAVEN, WILL YOU LAY OFF HER FOR ONE DAMN MINUTE?" Beast Boy exploded. "This is hard enough without you making it worse!"

Raven opened her mouth to shout back, but her eyes bulged suddenly, and then just as abruptly squeezed shut in another grimace. "Aaahhh…" she groaned, clutching her forehead. "No…get back…"

Terra stared. "What…what's wrong with her?"

"This bad guy, Malchior…he summoned that rock monster," Beast Boy said. "Except he's like, a ghost now, and he's possessing Raven. She's in control for now, but he's trying to take over."

"I'm fine," Raven said, shaking it off. "Look, Terra…we don't have a lot of time. You're the only one who has a chance of stopping this thing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but…will you help us?"

Terra looked at Beast Boy, whose eyes were pleading her to help them. She looked back at Raven, whose eyes were turned away, refusing to meet the blonde girl. It was a position she never, _ever _thought she'd be in. After everything she'd done to the Titans…here they were now before her, asking for her help. Not wanting to throw her in jail or, worse, simply kill her.

At least…not yet.

Still, there was no question in her mind what she had to do now.

"I…" she started, paused, and then went on. "I know…I can't be forgiven for everything I did so easily…but…I want to help…I want to…I _need_ to make up for my mistakes…even if it takes the rest of my life…"

Beast Boy smiled. "So you'll help us?"

Terra smiled too, ever-so-slightly. "Yeah…I'll do whatever I can."

Beast Boy leapt to his feet and hugged her. "All right, that's great! This'll be so awesome, fighting bad guys together again! And here, I even brought you your old uniform!" He lifted the black t-shirt, gold shorts, and blue-tinted goggles from the chair beside him and held the articles out to her.

Terra took them with shaking hands. "You…you kept it?"

"Of course. Heck, I kept your whole room just how you left it," Beast Boy said.

"But…why?"

"Because…I always knew, someday…you'd come back."

Terra's tiny smile broke out into a full-blown grin. "Thank you…that means a lot to me, Beast Boy."

"No problem. Now get dressed and let's go. I'll explain everything on the way."

* * *


	11. Last Request?

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"…So…she knew…how to free me…for months before now?"

Beast Boy nodded, glaring at the dark girl who flew along about a dozen feet ahead of him and Terra. "Ever since she first encountered Malchior. He taught her a lot. I guess one of the spells he taught her was something that could bring you back…and she hid it from us. Urgh…I swear, I almost bit her head off, I was so mad…"

The two were riding on a boulder wide enough for them to both sit comfortably on, flying quickly toward the quarry where they hoped they could rescue the others. True to his word, Beast Boy had explained to her their previous encounter with Malchior, everything about his current attack, and the spell to free Terra that Raven had discovered and then hidden.

"I don't blame her," Terra said quietly. "You're a great friend to be so forgiving, Beast Boy…but I don't deserve it. Raven has every right to hate me."

"She didn't have the right to hide it from the rest of us that she knew a way to free you!" Beast Boy said. "It was something we all should've known and made a decision on together, like a team!"

"The result would be the same either way," Terra said. "They'd all vote to leave me there."

"Terra, that is SO not true," the green titan assured her. "I can promise you Starfire, at least, would want you free. And Robin and Cyborg, well…they're intense sometimes, but they're not cruel. They wouldn't leave you like that."

Beast Boy saw the expression on Terra's face and realized his assurances weren't working, so he changed tack. "Look, you'll see when we get there. They'll all be happy to see you again, I promise."

"But I betrayed them!" Terra insisted, her eyes growing misty again. "I…I betrayed _you_. I gave you all to Slade. I gave the _whole damn city_ to Slade! How could anyone forgive me after…after that?"

"You made the right choice in the end, Terra," Beast Boy said. "You stopped Slade. You saved the city. You saved _us_. And you sacrificed yourself to do it. That means something to us, Terra. No…it means _a lot _to us. You…you were really brave to do that…we've never seen anyone make such a noble sacrifice…Starfire cried for you that night…heck…so did I…after what you gave up…well, if anyone deserves the chance to start all over again, it's you."

Terra locked eyes with the changeling, shocked and deeply touched. No one had ever told her something like that before…no one had ever showed such positive emotion over her before. It was…a pleasant feeling.

"You…cried for me?"

Beast Boy reddened. "Well…maybe a little…"

She allowed herself a small smile. "Beast Boy…you really are the best friend I've ever had," she said.

"Right back at you, Terra," he said, smiling back at her. "Listen…we'll talk more later, okay? For now, let's haul ass to the quarry and play hero. Just like old times."

Terra took a deep breath and nodded nervously. "Yeah…just like old times…I hope."

* * *

"**RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRGH!**" 

A massive hand of rock slammed into the ground just moments after the Boy Wonder had leapt out of its path. Robin launched a grappling hook and reeled himself out of the Earth Titan's range, desperate to catch a breather, but the monster caught up to him quicker than he thought was possible, and after only a few seconds of rest he was moving again.

_Star…Cyborg…where are you?_ he thought in a panic. The Earth Titan had knocked the both of them away and out of sight, and neither had returned to the fight. Robin could only assume that they had been knocked unconscious by the hits.

Which meant Robin was left fighting one of the most powerful creatures in Greek mythology all by himself.

And he was losing.

He reached into his utility belt and hurled a flash bomb as high as he could; it exploded in the monster's face, leaving him roaring blindly. Robin knew the effect wouldn't last for more than a minute or two, so he used what time he had to search for his two missing teammates.

"Starfire! Cyborg! Can you hear me? Where are you?"

No answer.

"Damn…this isn't good…" he muttered. If they weren't answering, they were likely in worse shape than he was…and he was exhausted. Not a good sign.

STARFIRE! CYBORG!" he tried again. CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"Rob…over here," a deep voice muttered from his left. Robin turned and saw a metallic hand pushing its way out of a pile of rubble. A metallic body slowly followed, covered in dirt.

"Cyborg!" Robin exclaimed, rushing over and kneeling beside the half-robot. "You okay?"

"Unnh…barely," he said. He glanced at the power readouts flashing on his forearm. "I'm running low on juice, Rob…I can't keep this up. Another ten minutes and I'm gonna be dead weight."

"Starfire…did you see…?"

Cyborg shook his head. "No…sorry, man…"

Robin leapt to his feet again and looked around frantically. "Starfire! Starfire, where are you? STARFIRE!"

A stray bit of rubble fell from another pile nearby, the sound catching Robin's attention. He looked over and saw that the fallen rubble had uncovered a lock of red hair.

The Boy Wonder's heart leapt into his throat. "STARFIRE! HOLD ON!"

He ran to the pile of upturned earth and began digging the alien girl out. His exhaustion had temporarily left him; in fact thoughts of the Earth Titan, even, had temporarily left him. Suddenly Starfire was all that mattered.

Slowly he uncovered her unconscious form; her uniform was filthy, her hair was tangled in the rocks, and her body was limp…but the slow rise and fall of her breathing assured the Boy Wonder she was alive, at least. He hooked his arms under hers and pulled her free of the ruble, distantly aware that his flash bomb was wearing off on the Earth Titan. He didn't have much time to wake her up.

"Star? C'mon, Star, talk to me…"

He squeezed her hand gently, hoping for a response, and it was only a few seconds before he got one. She returned the pressure much more strongly than Robin was squeezing, almost crushing his hand.

"…Ow…" he muttered, but was relieved anyway. If her alien strength could still crush his grip, she would be fine.

Sure enough, her eyes fluttered open a moment later, looking at the Boy Wonder. "Robin…?"

"Hey, Star…" he whispered back. "You had me worried for a minute there…"

"I did…?" she said, furrowing her brow. "Oh, I am sorry, friend, I did not mean to cause you concern…"

"It's fine, Star, don't apologize…as long as you're okay…"

Starfire smiled at him for a moment, but it vanished in an instant just then and was replaced by her 'warrior' face. "GET DOWN!" she suddenly shouted.

Robin didn't even think; just reacted. He ducked down as Starfire threw her hands up and fired star-bolts over his head. Robin craned his neck for a look and saw the bolts crash into a huge boulder that was flying toward them, no doubt thrown by the Earth Titan. Starfire fired again and again, until the boulder shattered, showering the two with rubble. Robin swept his cape up and over himself and Starfire, taking the brunt of the raining rocks upon himself and shielding the alien girl from it.

"Unnhh…you all right?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," she answered. "Robin, I do not wish to sound pessimistic, but all our efforts to fight this creature have failed quite completely. I…I am afraid this is a battle we cannot win."

"There has to be a way!" Robin insisted. "We have to beat this thing! We are the Titans!"

"No, Rob," Cyborg said, limping over. "That's what Malchior was talking about, man. That _thing_ that's kicking our collective butts…THAT is a Titan. Just _one_ of them, man, and it's beaten all three of us without breaking a sweat."

"I am not going to just roll over and die for this thing, Cyborg! There's got to be a way to beat it! There has to be!"

"Rob, it took freaking HERCULES to beat these guys! How in the world are we supposed to stand up to that kind of power?"

Robin sighed. "I don't know…but I'll be damned if I'm just going to give up. That's what we do, Cyborg; we fight. Even when it seems hopeless…we keep fighting."

"Robin!" Starfire shouted, pointing behind him.

Robin spun around on a hair trigger and saw the Earth Titan looming over him, the flash bomb having worn off. Its giant fist was raised high over its head, and was just beginning to swing down.

"TITANS, SCATTER!" Robin barked.

Cyborg was already far enough away that he didn't have to move much, but Robin and Starfire were right at ground zero. Starfire snagged Robin by the shoulders and flew away as fast as she could manage, just barely escaping the fist that slammed into the ground. The shockwave from the impact, however, slammed into her instead and sent her and Robin careening toward the ground again.

"OOMPH!" Robin grunted as the impact forced the breath from his lungs. He bounced, rolled, and skidded along the ground, scraping his elbows bloody. Starfire had yet to hit the ground, but she was falling straight toward the Boy Wonder. He stretched his arms and caught her, saving her from suffering the same injuries.

Cyborg meanwhile was distracting the Earth Titan, drawing it away from the two of them. He managed to lead it the length of a football field away before he felt his mechanical limbs begin to slow, and he was unable to outrun the man-sized boulder thrown by the monster. It struck the half-robot in the back and sent him sprawling to the ground, where his mechanical blue glow faded to black, and he didn't get up again. Apparently satisfied, the Earth Titan turned and slowly began lumbering back toward the Boy Wonder.

But Robin too had reached the end of his rope; every muscle, nerve, and bone in his body was aching, and a sharp pain in his chest made it hard to breath. Starfire didn't look in much better shape, he realized, as he looked closer at the girl lying in his weak arms. She was clutching her forehead with one hand and her side with the other, and dark red blood trickled from small cuts on both.

"Robin…I have taken considerable damage…" she admitted. "It is growing difficult to move without inducing pain…"

Robin could barely summon the strength to answer. "I…I'm sorry, Star…I've let you all down…I couldn't beat this thing…"

"It is not your fault, Robin," Starfire assured him. "We fought our best…and at least…we shall die a warrior's death…fighting to the last. It is one of the greatest honors in all of Tamaran."

"I don't deserve honor," Robin managed to say. "I failed…I failed the Titans…I failed the city…"

"You are not a failure, Robin. Not to me."

Robin craned his neck despite the pain, and looked into her eyes. He managed a small smile. "Star…thank you…you've always been…my best friend…"

"As have you been mine," she said. She glanced at the Earth Titan, watching his slow march toward them, then looked at Robin again. Slowly she took his hand in hers. "Robin…if it is not too much to ask of you…may I make a last request?"

"Yeah?"

"You recall, during our…recent battle with Kitten and the Killer Moth…when I kissed you?"

"…Y-yes…"

"Well…since then…I have…desired to do so again. May I, Robin?"

"Of course…anything."

Starfire leaned forward and slowly pressed her lips to Robin's. And despite the numbness in his body, it warmed him somewhat. He kissed her back, enjoying the sensation for the second…and last…time. It was only a few seconds before they separated, but it was enough. They tore their eyes away from one another to see the Earth Titan looming over them, a boulder in its hands the size of a semi-truck ready to crush the two remaining titans.

"Thank you, Robin…goodbye."

"Goodbye…Starfire…"

Robin squeezed his eyes shut as the monster tossed the boulder at them, and for that last moment, he couldn't help but keep thinking the same thing.

_I'm sorry, everyone…I failed…_

He waited…waited for the end…

…and kept waiting…

When a full five seconds had passed and nothing had happened, the Boy Wonder opened his eyes, and marveled at the scene before him. The boulder was frozen in mid-air about ten feet above the two titans, surrounded by a pale yellow aura.

And then…he heard light, dainty footsteps walking slowly past him…

He looked over and saw brown hiking boots, connected to slim legs. His eyes traveled up and saw yellow shorts…a black t-shirt…blonde hair adorned with blue goggles and a butterfly-shaped comb…

Robin's eyes were as big as baseballs behind his eye-mask. _…It…it can't be…_

Terra held one hand straight out in front of her, pointing it at the boulder, preventing it from falling. She stared unafraid at the monster behind it, almost smirking

"Hey, ugly…ready to fight someone more your type?"

* * *


	12. Terra versus the Earth Titan

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

The earth maiden's eyes flashed from sparkling blue to pale gold; her hands, also encased in a golden aura, raised above her head, and the enormous boulder flew backward along its previous path, where it crashed at breakneck speed into the oversized rock monster's two heads. The impact threw the Earth Titan off-balance, causing it to spill over backward and hit the ground hard enough to rip open the earth beneath it. It struggled to climb to its feet again, but it would be a minute before it managed the feat.

Terra, meanwhile, turned her attention to the two wounded titans. "You guys all right?" she said, not meeting their eyes.

Robin was staring slack-jawed at the blonde girl, hardly daring to believe what he was seeing. His mouth worked frantically but no sound was coming out. Starfire, too, was gaping at her in astonishment. Both stares were making her quite nervous.

"Um…do I have a booger hanging off my nose or something?"

"Te…Ter…Ter…" Robin stuttered.

"TERRA!" Starfire practically shrieked in joy. A second later the Tamaranian had engulfed her in a crushing bear hug, despite the pain of her injuries. "JOYOUS, GLORIOUS RAPTURE! YOU ARE NO LONGER A STATUE!"

"Urk…y-yeah…um…Star, I need to breathe…"

"Eep! My apologies!" she said, letting go. "But I am most elated to see you, long-lost friend! I have missed you so!"

"You…you have?"

"Heh…I told ya she'd be happy to see you," Beast Boy's chipper voice said from behind her as he joined them. "Looks like we got here just in time."

"Beast Boy, did I not tell you?" Starfire exclaimed, noticing him. "The ones closest to our hearts never truly leave us!"

"Yeah…" the changeling admitted. "You sure hit that nail on the head…"

"Nail? I have done nothing involving nails since I accidentally pierced Cyborg's hand with one last month…"

"It's just an expression, Starfire," Terra said with a small laugh. "I…um…that is…it's really great to see you again."

"The sentiment is returned one-thousand-fold, dear friend! Welcome home!"

Robin, meanwhile, had finally managed to overcome his initial shock. "Terra…how did you…get out?"

Terra's smile faded slightly. "I…have Raven to thank for that…"

"It was nothing," came Raven's deadpan voice from the shadows nearby. She stepped out, her eyes on anyone but Terra. "Robin, Starfire…you're hurt."

"We'll be all right," Robin insisted. "It's Cyborg I'm worried about. He's out of power. We have to get him back to the Tower to recharge."

"And we still must defeat the monstrous Earth Titan!" Starfire said. "Fortunately Terra's earth-moving powers should be more than a match for it! Oh, thank X'hal Raven discovered a way to revive you at the time she did…any later and we might not have survived the night!"

Raven said nothing, but both she and Terra looked slightly downcast at those words, and Beast Boy threw a dark look in Raven's direction at the same time. Starfire noticed none of this exchange, but it did not slip by the Boy Wonder. And suddenly a thought occurred to him; it was awfully convenient that Raven had discovered a way to free Terra right at the moment that her abilities would be desperately needed. Too convenient for him to ignore. Robin wasn't getting the whole story here; that much he was sure of.

And then there was the obvious matter of Terra herself. She seemed friendly enough so far…but Robin couldn't help but be suspicious of her, and it was not without reason. This was the girl who had once betrayed the Titans and conquered the city in Slade's name. On the other hand she had, at least, renounced Slade and made an extremely noble sacrifice in the end. Still, trust was something easily broken, and once broken, it was rare that the Boy Wonder trusted the person again. Terra was no exception.

But now wasn't the time to worry about it. Terra was here now, she wasn't trying to kill them, and she had a pretty darn good chance, Robin knew, to stop the Earth Titan. That had to be first priority. The rest could wait.

"Terra, you couldn't have come at a better time," Robin said. "This monster…it's…"

"I know," Terra assured him. "Beast Boy explained everything. I'm here to help."

"Good. Do whatever you can to stop it, but do not let it leave the quarry, or it'll become a danger to the citizens of the city. It's already caused many deaths. I don't want to see it cause any more."

"Got it. And…um…Robin? Starfire?"

"Yes, friend?" Starfire said.

"I…want you both to know…I'm sorry. About everything. I don't expect you to ever forgive me, or be my friend still or anything, but…I really am sorry. I hope someday I can make it up to you."

"Oh, Terra," Starfire sighed, wrapping her up in a much lighter hug this time. "Of course you are forgiven. Your sacrifice saved our lives; and you have done so again today. I shall never, ever forget that."

"We'll worry about getting reacquainted later," Robin said. "We've got trouble right now."

A roar of fury told them all Robin was right; the Earth Titan was back on its feet and lumbering back toward the teens.

"This fight is all yours now, Terra," Robin said. "Raven, if you're up to it, Star could use some healing. Star, after Raven heals you, I want you to get Cyborg back to the Tower to recharge."

"What about you?" Raven said. "You look a lot more beat up than she does."

"I'm fine…"

"You are most certainly _not _fine!" Starfire insisted.

"Starfire's right. Look, I have power to spare. I can heal you too."

"Unnhh…all right, get on with it, then…"

Raven closed her eyes and waved her hands toward Robin and Starfire. Black energy streamed from her and wrapped around first Starfire's body and then Robin's. The two felt a brief tingling sensation around the worst of their wounds, and as the tingle left, so did the pain.

"Great…thank you Raven…Raven? RAVEN!"

Raven had suddenly fallen to her knees moments after her task was done. She was gripping her forehead so hard her nails were drawing blood, and her teeth were grinding together with a sickening scraping noise.

"N…no…you…won't…control me…not now…" she muttered.

"Malchior's getting stronger," Robin realized. "He's fighting Raven for control."

A second later, the tension on Raven's face eased, and she stood back up again. "He tried to take over while I was weakened from using my powers like that. Almost succeeded, too. I can't fight him off much longer…he's worn himself out for now, but the next time he strikes…I might not be able to resist it."

She glanced past the Boy Wonder, and let out a sharp gasp. "BEHIND YOU!"

The titans spun to see another huge slab of stone hurtling toward them. Fortunately Terra's reflexes were up to the task. Her eyes and hands flashed gold, and the projectile halted in midair once again. She sent it flying back at the Earth Titan just as before, but the monster had learned. It swung a fist forward and smashed the stone slab into bits, leaving it unscathed.

"We're out of time!" Robin said. "Star, get Cyborg out of here. Beast Boy, you and I are going to keep an eye on Raven in case Malchior strikes again. Terra…get in there and bring that hunk of rock down. Titans, GO!"

No one argued. A chunk of rock ripped from the ground under Terra's feet and flew forward, carrying the earth maiden straight toward the monster. Starfire hovered over to Cyborg's limp form, lifted him from the rubble, and sped off toward the Tower. Beast Boy, Robin, and Raven stood together watching Terra, each with very different thoughts of the blonde girl running through their heads.

"You can do this, Terra," she told herself. "You _have _to do this."

She hovered directly in front of the Earth Titan's two bobbing heads, which both snarled at her. One rough, rocky hand reached slowly for her…

"Let's see how thick this rocky skin of yours really is," she muttered.

There was a flash of gold, and the front part of the rock she was riding exploded outward, leaving a jagged spear in its place. She snatched two fragments of stone and leapt off the makeshift weapon just as it shot forward and straight down the throat of the left head. She expected to hear it shrieking in pain, but there was nothing of the sort. The head actually licked its lips with a giant, molten-red tongue, like she'd fed it a tasty treat.

"Okay…so that's not going to work," the earth maiden commented.

The two rocks she held in her palms glowed and hovered in midair, supporting Terra's petite body. She pulled away from the monster and drew another platform of rock toward her at the same time. She landed on the new platform down near the monster's feet. Aiming her hands at the Earth directly beneath its feet, she strained to slowly rip open the ground, hoping to make the monster at least stumble in the small fissure. But it was no use; she couldn't open the ground quickly enough. The Earth Titan moved clear of the hole and stomped toward the girl, ready to crush her beneath his massive feet.

She soared away on her platform and up toward its heads again. The Earth Titan roared at her, enraged. Its huge hands shot upward with surprising speed, coming at her from both sides. He was going to crush her!

"TERRA, WATCH OUT!" Beast Boy shouted from the sidelines.

For a crucial moment, Terra froze up. The monster's hands were coming toward her so fast…had she moved immediately she might have been able to get clear of the attack. But she hesitated a moment too long, and now, too late, she saw she could not dodge this one…

"**_TERRA!_**" came Beast Boy's scream.

The voice sparked something in the earth maiden. Like a reflex she scrunched her eyes shut and extended her arms out to her sides, as though she were strong enough to physically push against the crushing palms of the Earth Titan and not get flattened…

…and incredibly, the monster's hands were halted.

"Whoa…" Beast Boy breathed in awe.

Terra opened one eye and squinted at the scene around her, and then both eyes shot open, amazed. The Earth Titan's hands were frozen, shuddering in place, by the pale yellow glow of her own powers.

"What…? How did I…?"

"I told you, it's made of solid rock, remember?" Raven called to her. "You should really pay more attention."

"Oh, DUH!" Terra said, mentally kicking herself. "Of course! In that case…"

She backed away from the Earth Titan just enough to get clear of the hands. She focused her power in her own hands, still pointing at those of the monster, and the rocky appendages were shining all the way through with golden light. The creature stared dumbly at the sight, not moving.

"Let's see some fireworks," Terra said.

Her eyes flashed a bright, blinding gold, and the Earth Titan's hands promptly exploded into millions of tiny pieces. And finally the titans knew they had hurt it, for the shrieking roar that bellowed from its heads was unmistakably a roar of immense pain.

"ALL RIGHT, TERRA! WASTE THIS SUCKER!" Beast Boy cheered.

Terra's eyes flashed again, and suddenly the monster's left arm was reduced to pebbles. Another flash, and the ground beneath where its right arm used to be was showered with tiny rocks. Her power filled the Earth Titan's stubby legs and shattered them as well, sending the monster pitching forward into the ground. The impact tore a huge rip in the ground and shook the landscape like an earthquake.

"It's not pulling itself back together," Robin commented.

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked.

"Before you came I managed to blow off one of its arms, but it didn't do any good. It just absorbed the pieces back into itself and reformed the arm. But now that's not happening. Something's different."

"Well, duh! That's all Terra's doing! YOU'VE ALMOST GOT IT, TERRA! KEEP IT UP, YOU'RE DOING GREAT!"

Terra landed her platform in front of the fallen monster, gazing unafraid into the four eyes that stared back at her. The Earth Titan roared in Terra's face, clearly yearning to pound her into pulp and helpless to do so.

"You hurt my friends…you killed innocent citizens of this city…for that, you're finished," Terra said to the monster. Whether it heard or understood Terra never knew, nor did she care. Her hands glowed, and the rest of the Earth Titan's shattered body was filled with Terra's power. One last time her eyes flashed with blinding gold light

"RRRAAAAAAUUUUUGH!" Terra screamed.

And with one last roar from its two heads, the mighty Earth Titan exploded into billions of tiny pebbles, showering everything within a quarter of a mile.

"OH, YEAH! TERRA, YOU DID IT!" Beast Boy cheered, running to her.

The blonde girl turned, smiling, to face to changeling. "I did…I really did…"

"Damn straight, you did!" he exclaimed. He raised one hand. "High five!"

Terra stepped forward and raised her own hand, but her eyes suddenly drooped and she stumbled, falling straight into Beast Boy's arms.

"Whoa! Terra, are you okay?"

"Unnhh…tired…" she muttered into his shoulder. Her eyes closed.

"Oh…guess that took a long out of you, huh?"

No response.

"…Terra?"

"Skkkknnnnnkkkk…" came her light snore.

"Heh…figures you'd spend six months sleeping inside a statue and then go right back to sleep two hours after you wake up," the changeling joked half-heartedly.

"Beast Boy, get Terra back to the Tower," Robin said, walking up behind the two. "Raven and I will be along shortly."

Beast Boy nodded. He morphed into a gorilla, laid Terra gently over one shoulder, and headed home. Robin and Raven, however, stayed a few moments longer, surveying the shattered remnants of the Earth Titan.

"She certainly made short work of the thing," Raven commented.

"I know…" Robin said. "After the trouble we all had, I was expecting it to be a struggle for her, at least…but she handled it easily."

"Almost _too_ easily."

"If you're suggesting Terra…"

"No," Raven said quickly. "She only just came out of the stone. Which is exactly the point. She was able to beat this thing way too quickly. Malchior's plotting something…trying to lull us into a false sense of security…"

"It's possible," Robin admitted. "We'd better be careful, just in case."

"Agreed."

"Come on, let's get back home."

"Right behind you," Raven said to Robin's back.

And out of Robin's line of sight…a tiny smirk and a flash of purple light crossed "Raven's" face.

And behind her, a small pile of broken rock began to shudder and glow…

* * *


	13. Choice

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

For the second time in less than twelve hours, Terra found herself awakening in a hospital bed, looking up into Beast Boy's smiling face. It was, the blonde admitted to herself, a habit that she could definitely get used to.

"Good morning, sunshine," the green titan said with his usual ear-to-ear grin filling his face. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a rock," she said, throwing him a grin of her own.

"Should've seen that one coming," Beast Boy snickered.

"Mmm…how long was I asleep for?"

"Most of the night," Beast Boy said. He glanced out the window at the darkened sky that was slowly growing lighter. "Looks like the sun's just about to start coming up…you wanna go up to the roof and watch with me?"

"Oh man…I haven't sat and watched the sunrise since…wow…since before I even met you guys."

"So…is that a yes?"

Terra smiled. "With you? Definitely."

The changeling took Terra's hand as she climbed out of bed and led her to the roof. The halls were quiet; it appeared no one else was awake yet. It had been a long night, after all; most of the Titans had very nearly died. And the area around where the Earth Titan had first appeared…those people hadn't been so lucky.

"There were…quite a few deaths…weren't there? Thanks to the Earth Titan?"

Beast Boy gave her a solemn nod as they climbed the stairs to the top floor of the Tower. "A couple of office buildings were dragged down into the fissure that the Earth Titan climbed out of. Thanks goodness it was in the evening, after most of them went home for the day…it could've been a lot worse…still…"

"Bad enough," Terra finished the thought.

They'd reached the door to the roof, but Beast Boy did not open it. He stood still, staring at it for a full minute before Terra became curious.

"Um…Beast Boy?"

_**SLAM!**_

Terra jumped as the changeling's fist slammed into the door, an uncharacteristic snarl on his face.

"Dammit, Raven…" he whispered.

"Beast Boy, what's wrong?"

"It's bad enough Raven didn't tell us she knew how to free you all this time in the first place," he said, "but what's worse is that…if she had…if you'd been freed sooner…maybe those people would still be alive today."

"Wh-what?"

"If you'd been there, maybe you could've held up the ground long enough for them to escape…but Raven left you down there…and now all those people are dead…maybe hundreds of them…"

"Beast Boy…"

The changeling sighed. "I'm sorry…I'm just…it's so frustrating…I don't understand how Raven could do something like that to you…how she could be so…heartless."

"Beast Boy…I don't think she did what she did because she was heartless."

Beast Boy stared at her, dumbfounded and disbelieving.

"I'm serious," Terra said. "She did what she did because of the exact opposite. She does have a heart. She cares about her friends…even if she doesn't ever show it, she cares, so much so that…after what I did…when I hurt her…when I hurt _all_ of you…she was hurting so much, she tried to shut the pain out for good…"

"It doesn't change the fact that she had no right to make that choice," Beast Boy growled.

Terra opened her mouth to say more, but a sharp jingle came from the communicator on the changeling's belt.

"Guess someone's awake after all…" he muttered as he snatched it. "What?"

"We're having a meeting," came Robin's short reply. "Main room. Now."

Beast Boy sighed, flipped the device closed and headed back down the stairs. "I guess you'll have to enjoy the sunrise without me."

Terra stood still at the door watching him go, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

_Beast Boy…she might not have the right to decide my fate…but she has every right to hate me…all of you do…_

A rush of memories suddenly struck the earth maiden…memories of her short time with the Teen Titans, before she'd given them to Slade…memories of pounding her one-time friends into the ground, and worse, _enjoying _it, _enjoying_ her betrayal of the only friends she'd ever truly had…memories that brought her nothing but guilt and sorrow. She collapsed against the door, her legs failing her, and slid down to the cold metal floor, sobbing.

_I'm sorry…Beast Boy…Raven…everyone…I'm so sorry…_

* * *

The doors slid open and Beast Boy entered the main room to find the other four titans already there, waiting. Robin leaned against the wall of the kitchen corner, a pensive look on his face. Cyborg, sitting on the edge of the couch, looked the same as Robin. Starfire hovered near Robin, her usual buoyant energy suppressed. Raven stood by the window, staring blankly out into the bay. Not a sound was made by anyone, until Beast Boy began to grow uncomfortable. 

"Ahem…hey, Cy, you uh…feeling better?"

"Yeah, yeah," the titanium teen answered a little too quickly. "All charged up and ready to go."

"Good…and, um…Rob, Star? You two okay?"

"Yes, Raven did a most wonderful job of healing us," Starfire answered quietly. Robin merely nodded agreement.

Beast Boy stared around the room as silence fell again, and heaved a sigh. "This is about Terra, isn't it?"

"We…need to decide what to do about her," Robin said.

"What's there to decide?" Beast Boy said. "Look, she's sorry, okay? She sacrificed herself to save us and this whole city."

"Right after she gave it over to Slade in the first place, BB," Cyborg said. "Look…I know you two were close…_are_ close…and I want to believe you, man, I really do. But what she did…it's hard to forget."

"I am sorry, Cyborg, but I must side with Beast Boy," Starfire said. "I believe Terra was misled. I believe she is legitimately sorry for her actions. I believe she wants nothing more now than to redeem herself. And in saving our lives by her willingness to give up her own, she has earned my forgiveness, and in my eyes, her redemption as well. That she saved my life again last night only reinforces that feeling within me."

"She likely saved a lot of lives by stopped the Earth Titan," Robin admitted. "And her sacrifice…is not something I will ever forget…but on the same token…I can't forget the evils she committed, either."

"Besides…whatever manipulations Slade may have used on Terra, in the end it was still her own choice to betray us; hers and hers alone," Raven spoke up.

"And when she realized she'd been wrong, she also _chose_ to do the right thing in the end!" Beast Boy countered angrily. "She didn't have to give up her life in order to save the city, but she did it anyway. Isn't that good enough for you?"

"No," the dark girl answered. "She was doing nothing but trying to cover up a problem that she herself caused. That volcano only activated because of her powers. That was no act of heroism, she was saving her own butt."

There was a flash of a green cheetah blurring across the room, and in the blink of an eye a gloved hand was pressing the dark girl against the window glass.

"I AM SICK OF LISTENING TO YOU TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!" he screamed at her, his eyes and face livid.

"Beast Boy, that's enough!" Robin ordered.

The changeling growled and stalked away, fuming. Halfway back to where he'd been, he spun around and jabbed a finger in Raven's direction. "You talk about the horrible things Terra did, like you think you're so much better than her…but you're just as guilty as she is of deception!"

"Say what?" Cyborg asked.

"Beast Boy, what are you talking about?" Robin demanded.

"Go on, Raven, tell them!" Beast Boy said. "Tell them all about how you've known a way to free Terra for months now! Tell them how you decided to hide it from all of us and leave her stuck down there in that statue! Tell them how you would've left her there forever if we hadn't needed her help last night! Come on, Raven, tell them all about it!"

A stunned silence fell over the room and all eyes were on Raven, whose face remained impassive.

"Raven…please, tell us this is not so…" Starfire whispered at last.

Raven said nothing.

"Raven…" Cyborg muttered.

Robin slowly walked toward her, his most intense stare locked on her. He stopped right in front of the dark girl, glaring into her violet eyes, while she glared back into the blank white of his eyemask.

"Is this true?" Robin asked.

Robin fully expected the dark girl to avert her gaze then; it was something of a surprise to him, then, when she held her stare as she answered.

"Yes."

Robin's fists clenched. "Do you have any idea how many codes of heroism you've broken in doing that?"

"No. And frankly I don't care. If you expect to guilt me into some kind of apology, forget it. I made my choice."

"It was not your choice to make!" Robin snarled. "Dammit Raven, this is a human life here! You can't make some executive decision about her fate like that! The least you could've done was let us know that you had a way to free her!"

"Why? So you could let her just come back to us, all forgiven? Let her become a Titan again? Let her betray us again?" Raven retorted.

"As a matter of fact, Raven, I had every intention of putting her in jail, just like any other criminal," Robin shot back. "But what you did…that's…cruel and unusual punishment is what it is."

"And think about it this way, Raven," Beast Boy added. "What about those people that died when the office buildings sunk into that fissure? If you'd freed Terra back when you first found a way to, she might have been able to save those lives!"

"It's pointless to worry about the what-ifs," Raven said, her eyes not leaving Robin's. "There's no changing now what happened then."

"**_People's lives are NOT pointless!_**" Beast Boy shouted back.

"Friends, please," Starfire's worried voice floated over. "Do not fight. Nothing good can come of it."

Robin took a deep breath, realizing the Tamaranian was right. "We're not done with this," he said to Raven.

"So back to business then…what do we do about Terra?" Cyborg said.

"She's turned away from Slade. She's saved our lives and this city twice now, with no regard for her own safety. Starfire's right about that much," Robin said. "And…between that and the time she spent frozen in stone…she doesn't deserve to go to jail. I think she's earned her freedom, at the very least."

"Agreed," Beast Boy and Starfire said together.

"Yeah, I'll give ya that," Cyborg added.

Raven said nothing, though it wouldn't have mattered; the others knew where she stood, and she was clearly outvoted.

"The question, then, is this," Robin said. "Do we invite her back on the team?"

There was a silence as each of them considered the question. It was perhaps five minutes before anyone spoke up.

"Look…you all know what my answer is," Beast Boy said. "I think she's earned her place here. And I'm not just saying this because of…y'know…how I feel about her. I really think she's changed. I would trust her with my life."

"I agree with Beast Boy," Starfire added. "Terra has found, with us, the home she has always needed. It would be…wrong of us to deny her of that. I still desire her friendship."

"Even if we didn't let her back on the team," Cyborg added, "Terra would still keep fighting the same fight we are, except she'd be fighting alone. Makes it a lot easier for her to get hurt. It would keep her a lot safer to bring her back to the team…and it's not like we couldn't use the extra firepower…"

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming," Beast Boy guessed.

Cyborg nodded. "To me, BB, what it boils down to is that a team has to be able to trust each other, fully and completely. One hundred percent. Maybe you can say that safely about her…but when I ask myself, can I ever trust her a hundred percent again…I don't have an answer, BB. I just don't know."

"Look, we don't have to decide anything right this second," Robin said. "Let's just take today to think about it, and then…we'll see what comes of it."

The five friends nodded agreement, and dispersed. Starfire headed toward her room, Cyborg wandered in the direction of the garage, and Beast Boy climbed up to the roof where Terra sat watching the sun as it finally began to rise. Raven and Robin were the only ones left in the room.

"Beast Boy was right, Raven…" Robin said quietly. "Too right. If you'd let us know that Terra could be freed…she would've had the power to save those people from dying last night. I said it once already; as far as we're concerned it wasn't your right to make that choice. But you were right too. Whether I approved of it or not, you made that choice, and there's no going back and changing it. I just hope you can live with the consequences that came from that choice."

Without another word on the subject, the Boy Wonder turned away and left the room. Behind him, Raven's eyes flashed a dark, menacing purple.

"Mark my words, human," a monstrous voice poured from her mouth. "When I take over this world…you will be the first to fall."

* * *

_Somewhere in the dark, red and black cityscape of the empath's mind sat a large cage, watched over by an enormous purple dragon…contained within were several identical figures dressed in a rainbow of differently-colored cloaks…and separated from all the rest, in a lonely corner, was the true Raven. Her cloak was wrapped around her entire body, and her hood was pulled down tightly over her head, covering her face in darkness…so no one could see the single tear trailing down her pale cheek._

(He's right……it's my fault……they died……because of me……)

* * *

Author's Note: Dedicated to Miss Rae of Phantasma. Wishing you a speedy recovery, my friend. All my best wishes go out to you. 

Cid


	14. The Sorcerer Strikes

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"It's beautiful…all the reds and yellows and oranges…I don't know why I haven't sat and watched it in so long…it really is…beautiful…"

Terra was lying on her back on the roof, her head hanging off the edge so that she was staring at the horizon upside-down and her golden hair was hanging down and obscuring the window just below.

"Do you always watch the sunrise like that?" the changeling managed to chuckle from where he sat beside her.

"What, upside-down? Sometimes," the blonde admitted.

"Why?"

"No reason."

"No reason at all? Doesn't all the blood rushing to your head make you dizzy?"

"Nah…to be honest, it helps me think sometimes. And…well…I do have a lot to think about right now, after all."

She let out a sigh as she stared at the multicolored sunlight. "It's strange…you guys say it's been six months since I was frozen…but to me it feels like no time has passed at all. Everything that happened…that final battle with Slade…it feels like it was just yesterday. It's fresh in my mind, just eating at me, the things I did. But you guys…you've had a long time to think about it…"

She turned and looked at Beast Boy's inverted form. "That meeting Robin called you off to…it was about me, wasn't it?"

"…Yeah," the changeling admitted, seeing no reason to hide the fact from her.

"Are you going to…y'know…arrest me for everything, and…send me to prison?"

The blonde girl honestly and truly expected that jail was what the titans had planned for her. It was what the Teen Titans did; they put criminals in jail. And she had committed crimes. They would surely put her away.

But she was in for a surprise.

"No…we're not."

Terra sat up and stared at him in shock. "You're not? But…why? That's what the titans do, isn't it?"

"Well…yeah, but…you served your time…down in that cave."

"That was only six months," Terra argued. "After the things I did…you should be locking me up for life!"

"Forty-nine years and six months."

Terra stared. "Come again?"

"According to Robin…if we gave you over to the police, that's probably how long your sentence would be, minus the time you spent in the cave…but…"

"But what?"

"But that doesn't count the good things you did. That doesn't count the fact that you saved this city in the end…and then again yesterday…and you've also saved all of our lives. Twice, in Robin and Starfire's case. We figured after all of that, the least you'd earned was freedom."

"But I…" Terra started, but couldn't finish. Her fists clenched, her eyes squeezed shut, and she turned away from the green titan.

"Terra, what's wrong?"

"Why, Beast Boy? Why are you being so…forgiving? You of all people should hate my guts as much as Raven does. I don't understand…"

"That's what friends do, Terra. They forgive each other for their mistakes. We've all made them. You aren't the only one to be manipulated by Slade, or someone just like him. Raven went through something similar the last time Malchior was around…and then there was Cyborg and Brother Blood…and Robin…he was twisted into working for Slade _twice_, long before we ever met you…and he's still our friend. That's just what people like him do, Terra, they bring out the worst in us. But I know the _real_ Terra. And she's pretty much the greatest girl I've ever met."

Terra fought hard not to let tears fall again. "Beast Boy…you're a great friend to say that, but…"

"'But' nothing!" the changeling insisted. "You just watch, Terra. We're all your friends, and we want you back with us."

"Raven doesn't…" she whispered.

"…Okay, fine, maybe Raven would have a problem, but you know I'm with you, and so is Starfire, and I know Cyborg and Robin will come around with a little time. And even if…y'know…it doesn't work out…I promise we'll still be best friends, no matter what."

"Beast Boy, stop it!" she cried out, slowly losing her battle with tears. "I did so many evil things…I don't deserve…a friend like you…I don't deserve to be with the titans…"

"You're wrong, Terra. You're far from evil. You're a good person that just…made some mistakes…and you're trying your best to fix them. That's good enough for me."

"But I…I don't…I…"

Beast Boy had next to no warning at all before Terra had thrown her arms around him, hugging his middle and burying her face in his chest. He heard her muffled sobs follow shortly after.

"Beast Boy…I'm so sorry…I was such a fool…please…don't hate me…"

The changeling wrapped his own arms around the earth maiden and pulled her closer to him, leaned down, and kissed the top of her head.

"I could never hate you, Terra…never…"

* * *

_By Azar, I swear to you, Malchior, you will pay for this…_

The sorcerer sneered in Raven's body. "Really, now, girl," he said aloud into the emptiness of the dark girl's room. "I don't think you are in any position to be making idle threats. Not while I control this body once more."

_I took it back from you before, and I can do it again!_ came Raven's mental reply. 

"I think not. My strength has returned to me. And this time I shall not be so careless."

_Whatever you're planning, Malchior, the titans will stop you!_

"Your pathetic friends will do no such thing. They insult history's greatest beings merely by existing. They shall fall to the TRUE Titans."

_Your dear Earth Titan did some nice 'falling' himself,_ Raven replied.

"SILENCE!" Malchior demanded. "You dare mock the Titan's power?"

Raven gave him a short, mocking laugh. _Some power…he fell flat on his face against one little girl._

"You shall see, you foolish little half-demon…the Earth Titan has much more fight in store for your dear friend Terra."

_What are you talking about? That thing is nothing but pebbles thanks to Terra._

Now it was Malchior's turn to laugh. "The Earth Titan is not as doomed as you so foolishly believe."

_What is that supposed to mean?_

"Ha-ha-ha…Just you wait and see, Raven…just wait and see…"

There was a sudden knock on Raven's door, drawing Malchior's attention away from his mental prisoner.

"Friend Raven, it is Starfire…I would very much like to speak with you for a moment," the alien's voice bubbled through the door.

"Hmm…perhaps you won't have to wait after all," Malchior whispered.

_No! Leave Starfire out of this, you madman!_

Malchior ignored the sorceress and spoke in her exact voice. "Come in."

The door slid open and Starfire floated inside, shutting it behind her. She looked around curiously. "Strange…I was quite sure I heard someone else's voice in here…"

"Nope…it's just me in here," the disguised villain said. "What did you want to talk about, Starfire?"

Starfire didn't appear entirely satisfied, but she let it pass. "I am…wishing to understand, Raven…why you left our friend Terra as a statue for so long, even though you knew you had the power to free her."

"You say you want to understand, Starfire, but you wouldn't even if I told you."

"I am willing to try. She is our friend, Raven, and friends do not do such things to one another. It is wrong."

Malchior pondered exactly how Raven would respond to this, and finally settled on an old memory.

"I said it once, and I'll say it again: Terra was never our friend. She was a liar and a deceiver. She is evil. Always has been, always will be."

"Forgive me, friend, but I am very much convinced you are mistaken."

_Whatever game you're playing, Malchior, it won't work,_ Raven's thoughts pierced through Malchior's focus. _Starfire and the others aren't stupid. Sooner or later they're going to see through your little act and realize what's happened._

"I have no intention of acting any longer," the sorcerer whispered.

"What did you say, Raven?"

Malchior turned Raven's head to find Starfire staring at her, curiosity again etched into her expression.

"It's nothing, Starfire," he said quickly. "Just…thinking out loud."

"You seem terribly distracted, my friend. Are you ill?"

Malchior focused a tiny burst of Raven's power; almost inaudibly there was a small _click_ of a door lock falling into place, untouched by any physical force and unnoticed by the Tamaranian.

"Actually, I am feeling a little weak…" Malchior said in Raven's voice.

"Oh…is there perhaps something I can do to help?" the alien girl asked.

"Yes…as a matter of fact, there is…"

Starfire didn't even see Raven's hand move; all she was aware of was that it was suddenly wrapped around her neck and gripping like a vice.

"Give me your energy…" Malchior said in his own voice.

A bolt of understanding shot across Starfire's face; she opened her mouth to call out, but Malchior tightened his grip further, cutting her off before she could say anything. The sorcerer lifted her off her feet, so that her whole body was dangling from his vice grip. The Tamaranian could barely breathe.

_NO! Malchior, don't hurt her! Please, leave Star alone!_

"Don't worry…she will not be harmed…yet," Malchior hissed. "I simply need to borrow some of her energy…"

Starfire struggled, but to no avail; Raven's grip was somehow stronger even than her own impressive alien strength, and she couldn't concentrate well enough to fire star-bolts when all her efforts were aimed at trying to get air down through the chokehold.

"Necronom, Hezberek, Mortix!" the sorcerer chanted.

A sudden draining feeling passed through Starfire. Her eyelids began to droop, her muscles slackened, and her struggling weakened and died away. She felt tired…so tired…

_**NO!**_

The true Raven's anguished cry resonated in both Malchior's and Starfire's heads as the dark girl fought with all her strength to regain control. Slowly, ever so slowly, the hand clenching Starfire's throat began to loosen…

_You…won't…hurt…my…friend…_ Raven gasped, already exhausted from the effort.

Finally Starfire could breathe well enough to speak…and speak she did.

"ROBIN! HELP!"

A distant crashing sound told them all that the Boy Wonder had dropped whatever he'd been doing and was bolting in the direction of her scream as fast as he could go. Malchior would be caught soon, and he knew it.

"Treacherous little demon!" Malchior snarled inwardly. "You are my prisoner! This body belongs to _me_ now!"

Malchior ripped what little control Raven had gained back from her, and his grip on Starfire tightened again. He refocused his energies on the spell, and continued draining Starfire's strength, sucking it out of her like a vampire…

A pounding on the door interrupted Malchior's concentration yet again, and the Boy Wonder's voice boomed through the metal.

"Starfire? Starfire, are you in there? Starfire!"

"Looks like your boyfriend is here to save you. Oh well…I've taken all the energy I can from you anyway," Malchior muttered to the now-unconscious Tamaranian.

A second later the locked clicked as Robin keyed in an override code. The door slid open, and he saw Raven's body holding up a limp and lifeless-looking Starfire.

"STAR! RAVEN, WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" he demanded.

'Raven' sneered. Her eyes flashed purple. "She did nothing. It is **_I_** you should be concerned with," a growling voice spewed from her mouth.

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Malchior…you…you monster!"

"Indeed I am," the sorcerer mocked. "Have the girl…she is of no more use to me."

He charged his violet-hued energy into the hand holding Starfire and threw the girl straight into Robin. He caught her smoothly, but it forced him back and cost him several precious seconds…more than enough time for the villain. He threw his other hand in the direction of Raven's newly repaired window, and with another burst of purple light it shattered again. He leapt out onto the windowsill, and just before he flew off into the morning sun, he turned and smiled at Robin, who was glaring furiously back.

"The Titans _will_ rise again, hero…_all_ of them."

And then he shone with not only his own purple energy, but Starfire's stolen green glow as well, and shot off like a rocket. He flew straight into the rising sun, fading fast into its brilliant light…

Fading…

Fading…

Gone.

* * *

Dedicated to Miss Rae of Phantasma. Wishing you a speedy recovery, my friend. My best wishes go out to you. 

Cid.


	15. Fusion of Evils

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"Starfire! Starfire, talk to me! Wake up, Star…"

The alien girl did not respond to the Boy Wonder's pleas. She lay unconscious in his arms, her breathing shallow and slow. Robin cradled her head under one arm, feeling her hair on his skin…and even that seemed lifeless. Where her hair usually was silky-smooth, now it felt…rough. Stiff. Dead…

"Starfire…what did that psycho do to you…?" Robin whispered furiously.

A shadow passed over the room; Robin looked over at the gaping hole in the wall where the window used to be, and saw Beast Boy and Terra hop into the room from a floating rock, horrified looks on their faces.

"We…heard the scream…" Beast Boy whispered. "Robin…what happened…?"

"Malchior happened," Robin growled. "He took control of Raven again, and sucked up all of Star's energy."

"Is she…okay?" Terra asked.

"I don't know…she's breathing, but…she looks so lifeless…"

Cyborg hurried into the room next. "What's all the noise over-" he said, but cut himself off when his eyes registered the sights in the room before him. He swore under his breath. "My God…what…what happened here?"

Robin quickly explained again what had happened, leaving Cyborg looking nonplussed. He didn't appear surprised at all.

"Here, Rob, let me take a look at her…" he muttered.

Cyborg's scanners waved back and forth over the alien girl's body, and let out a series of small beeps as a display came up on the mechanical titan's forearm. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Nothing to worry about…he drained some of her energy, but you know our girl, she has plenty to spare. She should be fine in an hour or so…her energy levels are filling back up pretty fast…if she were human it'd take more like four hours to recover this much energy."

Sure enough her eyes opened a moment later. Her eyes, normally sparkling, had lost a lot of their glow, but Robin could see it slowly returning.

"Robin…Malchior…he…" she muttered.

"Shh…" Robin whispered. "We know. Save your strength, Star."

"No…it is something…else…"

"Something else?" Robin echoed her.

Starfire sat up, shaking her head to clear it. "I believe that Malchior has been in control for some time before now…I believe he has been acting the part of Raven, fooling us."

A dawning comprehension crossed Robin's face. "Of course…Raven's attitude during the meeting…"

"She was way too cold, even for Raven," Beast Boy said, catching on. "She wouldn't have blown everything off like that, unless…"

"Unless that wasn't really her," Cyborg finished the thought. "I could tell she wasn't herself…somehow, I knew…dammit, I could've stopped him…"

"Don't blame yourself," Robin said. "Malchior fooled all of us. He's to blame for doing this to Starfire. The question is, why? Why pretend to be Raven? What does Malchior get out of it?"

"He lulled us into a false sense of security, Cyborg said, "so he could steal Starfire's energy. She was the only real choice; he already had Raven, and my energy weapons are all in my cybernetic parts; he'd know there would be no way he could suck energy out of electronics. Starfire was the only other one of us with energy-based powers, and she has a lot of it to give…what I want to know is, what does he plan to do with all that power?"

"…M-maybe…he wants to put the Earth Titan back together?" Terra offered hesitantly.

"That's possible," Cyborg admitted. "If he-"

"No!" Robin suddenly shouted.

Cyborg stared at the titan leader, and was shocked at the horrified look on his face. "What's gotten into you, man?"

"He doesn't just want to bring back the Earth Titan!" Robin told him. "Right before he left, he said to me, 'the Titans will rise again…_all_ of them.' He's going to use Starfire's stolen energy to charge him up enough to raise the other four Titans!"

"Oh, man," Cyborg muttered. "If he can manage that…Robin, there's no way we can fight all of them together…"

"If he can summon all five Titans…" Terra started.

"Then this city is in serious trouble," Robin finished.

A screeching alarm and flashing red lights interrupted the conversation; the Titan Alarm. Something was happening in the city.

"Perfect…just what we need…Cyborg, stay here with Starfire," Robin ordered. "I'm going to check the main computer, see what the problem is."

"Don't bother, dude," Beast Boy said before he could leave. "Take a look for yourself."

The changeling pointed out the window. The team looked out where Beast Boy was pointing, and let out a collective gasp. The clear, definite silhouette of the Earth Titan was towering off in the distance, slowly marching out of the quarry…and straight toward downtown.

"If he gets into the city, the death toll is going to skyrocket," Robin snarled. "Dammit, I thought we had more time…"

"We've gotta get over there and stop him!" Beast Boy said.

"You're right…but Starfire still needs time to recover…and if Malchior decides to come back here and attack, I don't want her to be left alone against him." He took a deep breath, mentally making his 'leader' decisions. "Okay. Terra, you're still the best chance we have against the Earth Titan, so that's what you're going to do. Stop that…_thing_ from reaching downtown. Cyborg and I will be going with you. We'll try to deal with Malchior. Beast Boy, I want you to stay with Starfire until she's strong enough to fight, and then both of you get over there as fast as you can. Got it?"

Beast Boy threw a worried glance sideways toward Terra, and looked ready to protest at being separated from her, but with a reassuring look from the earth maiden, he held his tongue and nodded to Robin.

"Okay then. Titans, GO!"

Terra ripped up a larger platform of rock than usual, giving Robin and Cyborg enough room to stand there with her. Terra laid a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder for a moment, sharing a glance into each other's eyes. Then her, Robin, and Cyborg hopped onto the rock, and Terra flew them as fast as she could toward the Earth Titan, hoping they could get there in time to stop any more deaths from happening.

"Good luck, guys," Beast Boy whispered. "And…Terra…be safe…"

* * *

_Deep in the red and black nightscape within Raven's consciousness, the dark girl was in a storming rage._

"_Malchior, you are insane!" she shouted at the black and violet dragon that loomed over her cage. "What could you possibly gain from all this? What's in it for you?"_

"_Simply the pleasure of eliminating every last wretched human soul from this planet," the dragon hissed. "They have lost their respect for the mighty Titans, and for that they must die. What more 'gain' could I strive for?"_

"_This city has placed their faith in a **new** set of Titans," Raven shot back, "and they will stop your insane plan!"_

_Malchior only laughed, his snout flaring with violet fire._

"_Besides, I know the extent of my power and yours. Even with the energy you stole from Starfire, you don't have the power to raise the rest of the Titans."_

_The dragon laughed again. It pointed one wicked, sharp claw at the cage in which the cluster of Ravens stood. Suddenly, bars shot out from the floor, sealing in one of the Ravens, separate from the others. Red._

"_**What? What foolishness is this?**" Red snarled._

_Malchior beckoned with his claw, and Red's new cage lifted and passed straight through the ceiling. The cage flew upward, and came to a halt directly in front of the dragon's serpent-like head. _

"_The lady is, admittedly, quite right," Malchior hissed to Red. "As things are now, I am still lacking the power I require to raise the Earth Titan's mighty brethren."_

"_**What concern is that of mine?**"_

"_It is very much your concern. Tell me…you are the true extent of Raven's power, are you not? You are her demon side. Her true strength. And yet, she has always bound you…afraid to let you out…"_

"_Oh no," Raven whispered, realizing what was happening. "NO!"_

"_Side with me, demon," Malchior said. "With my power and yours combined, we shall destroy these worthless humans…and you can have this body, just as you've always desired."_

"…_**You do not desire this girl's body?**"_

"_Of course not!" Malchior snorted. "You think I want to remain in this wretched girl any longer than I have to? No…when we have raised the Titans, I will rebuild my own body…greater and more powerful than before…THAT shall be mine…and the girl…shall be all yours."_

_A slow, sinister grin crept onto Red's face. _

"_NO! DON'T DO IT!" Raven screamed. "YOU'LL DESTROY US ALL!"_

"_**Destruction sounds quite nice to me,**" Red answered._

"_Yes…so what do you say, demon? Do we have an agreement?"_

"_**We have an agreement.**"_

"_NOOOOOO!" Raven echoed._

_The cage around Red vanished. The demon's four red eyes blazed, and the tiny form grew…morphed…mutated…until its true demon form was revealed. Hulking, muscular limbs. Long white hair. Dark red skin. Pointed ears. Four glowing yellow eyes._

_The demonic essence of Trigon._

"_**RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!**"_

_The demon bellowed into the empty red and black sky. His body pulsed with an unnatural red light, and at the same time, Malchior's dragon form began glowing purple. _

"_Now, demon…give your strength to me…and make our powers one!"_

_The red light engulfed the demon until his body was no longer visible. It was glowing so brightly, the rest of the Ravens were unable to even look at it directly. And then, like wisps of smoke caught in a breeze, the light began to flow into Malchior's body._

"_Yes…YEEEES…**YEEEEEEEEEESSS! THIS IS THE POWER I NEED! THIS IS THE POWER THAT WILL RAVAGE THIS WORLD!**"_

_Now Malchior, too, was engulfed in the combined purple and red light. He let out a serpentine roar of his own before he vanished, and the light seemed to literally explode, it was so bright…even closing their eyes, Raven and the rest of her emotions were blinded by it. _

_Slowly, ever so slowly, the flare faded, and Raven could begin to make out what was going on outside of the cage. And as soon as she did, she realized she'd rather not have known. The demon form of Red had vanished…but where Malchior remained, he had transformed into something ten times worse._

_In sheer size, the dragon had grown. Where once he had stood perhaps as tall as the Earth Titan, now he towered even over that giant. His scaly purple and black skin had changed colors; now it was a blazing, fiery red. Hi wings had elongated, spanning twice the length of his body when fully extended. The outside of them was the same flaming red as the rest of his skin, but the inside was a pale, empty gold. Long white hair had sprouted from the dragon's head, hanging down around his snake-like neck. _

"_By Azar…" Raven whispered. _

"_**HAAAAAHH! YEEESSSSSSSSS…SUCH POWER…SUCH PHENOMINAL POWER…MORE THAN ENOUGH TO RAISE THE TITANS, AND LAY WASTE TO THESE WORTHLESS MORTALS…**"_

_The transformed Malchior sneered down at Raven, enjoying the horrified expression on her face. "**YOU SEE, RAVEN, HOW FUTILE IT WAS TO OPPOSE ME? HA-HA-HA-HA…YOUR WORTHLESS FRIENDS SHALL NOT STOP ME NOW…THEY SHALL FALL, RAVEN…AND THE TRUE TITANS SHALL RISE IN THEIR PLACE.**"_

_The dragon laughed once more, and then vanished in a flash of light, leaving Raven feeling utterly and completely defeated._

"_He's won…" she whispered. "My demon side has made him more powerful than ever…there's nothing left to stop him from raising the rest of the Titans now…"_

"_He may have the power to raise them, yes…" Yellow interrupted her thoughts. "But he has not won. Not yet."_

"_Of course he has!" Raven snapped at her other self. "He has the core of our power at his fingertips, on top of his own! He's about to have all five Titans at his disposal, and there is NOTHING my friends could possibly do about it!"_

_Yellow sighed. "One of these days, Raven, you're going to remember that I'm the core of your intelligence and rationality, and you'll realize that when I say something like, 'Malchior has not won yet,' you should take my word for it."_

"_Wh-what?" Raven stuttered. "What are you saying?"_

"_What do you think she's saying?" Green broke in. "Look at who you're talking to! This is your intelligence right here! And she ALWAYS has a plan! And they usually involve lots of bad guys to beat down on!"_

"_Yeah, Rae-rae!" Pink said with a smile. "Cheer up! We'll be out of here in no time!"_

_Raven's eyes narrowed. "You're telling me you have a plan to stop this disaster from happening?"_

"_Yes," Yellow said. "It's a long shot, I will admit…but it's also our **only** shot."_

_Raven took a deep breath, and nodded. "All right then…let's hear it."

* * *

_


	16. Terra versus The Earth Titan: Round Two

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 15**

"Unnhh…Beast Boy, please, let me go! I am…most healthy now, truly! We do not…need to stay here…any…longer!"

Beast Boy kept his arms wrapped around Starfire's waist, holding her back from the medical room window she was attempting to fly out of. "Star, you are so _not_ fine!"

"Yes, I am…" she argued. "I am…most capable of…fighting the villain Malchior!"

"Star, Malchior would wipe the floor with you right now! Look at you; you can't even break my grip on you right now, and you're like twenty times stronger than me! You should be able to rip away from me like tissue paper!"

Starfire had no response to that. She threw him a dirty look, but slowly, she stopped struggling, and Beast Boy at last released her.

"I'm just trying to make sure you're safe," Beast Boy said. "Seriously, Star, Robin would kill me if I let you leave before you were at a hundred percent."

Starfire gasped and glared at the changeling as though he'd said something very offensive. "Robin would do no such thing!" she insisted. "How you could even think such things is…"

"Star! Calm down, it's just an expression!"

"…Oh."

"Look, I know you're worried about Robin…and I'm worried about Terra, too…but they can handle things until we get there."

"I wish I could be as confident as you are, Beast Boy," Starfire responded softly as she turned to look out the window again.

"What do you mean? Don't you think they can take care of themselves?"

"I…do not know, Beast Boy…" she admitted. "Malchior has likely grown far stronger after stealing my powers…and…"

"…and what?" Beast Boy pressed.

"…I am getting…what is it you call it…a 'bad vibe' about this. I fear something terrible has happened…and I fear for our friends' safety. And Raven…"

Beast Boy laid a hand on Starfire's shoulder. "Hey…we'll get her back. I promise."

"Mmmm…I cannot stand this!" Starfire burst out. "I do not care if I am not at my full strength, I cannot stand here and do nothing while our friends are in danger! We must go to help them!"

"Star, we've been over this already!"

"But I…" she started, but suddenly stopped as an idea came to her. Her whole expression brightened immediately. "Beast Boy! I could ride you!"

Beast Boy gave her a blank stare. "Uhh…say what?"

"You could morph a large flying creature, and I could ride on your back while you fly to our friends! I would still be resting and recovering my energy, and not spending it flying myself! By the time we arrive at our destination I will be fully recovered, I promise! You could help Terra, and Robin will not cause you fatal bodily harm!"

Beast Boy slowly grinned. "Hey, yeah…now there's an idea I can get behind!"

"Then, we will go?" Starfire asked.

"Okay…but if you're still not ready when we get there, promise we'll lay low and stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Agreed!"

"Then let's fly! Grab on!"

Beast Boy climbed onto the windowsill and morphed into a pterodactyl. Starfire quickly climbed onto the changeling's back and wrapped her arms around his long neck for safety. Beast Boy turned to blink one great eye at her, then leapt out the window and spread his massive wings. He caught a strong wind almost immediately, and the two titans were up, up, and away in seconds.

* * *

Thousands of screams could be heard echoing through the streets as the horrible, reborn Earth Titan lumbered into the city limits. People abandoned their homes, leapt out of their still-running cars, and left their shops wide open and empty, all in attempting to escape from the looming monster. But no matter how many seemed to flee in fear from the monster, some still managed to get caught in its path. 

"Mommy, I'm scared," a four-year-old girl wailed as she clutched her mother.

The mother held the girl close to her as they hid behind the wreckage of their car; in the panic of escaping the monster, another escaping vehicle had carelessly slammed right into her. The man had called out a hasty apology, but then ran for his life, leaving the mother with a couple of cracked ribs and her daughter with a bruise on her forehead.

"Shh, Lauren…it's going to be okay, baby," Sara whispered to the little girl. "Just hold onto me, okay?"

"Okay, mommy…"

The rest of the people had managed to get away, and were now watching the monster from a safe distance; Sara and Lauren were the only ones left on the street. And the Earth Titan was marching straight toward them.

"Mommy, make it go away!" Lauren cried.

"Shh, honey, don't cry, it'll all be over soon…"

The screeching of metal on metal assaulted their ears as the Earth Titan snatched their wrecked car and the one that had hit them, and tossed them aside, leaving Sara and Lauren exposed. The monster stared down at them with its fierce eyes, snarled, and raised its fist high over them.

"Mommy!"

"Don't be scared, baby…" Sara whispered. As the monster's fist began to fall straight toward them, she squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms protectively around her daughter, even though it could do no good…

But the impact never came.

When Sara opened here eyes again, there was a girl standing between her and the monster's fist; a blonde wearing a black t-shirt and shorts of a pale yellow. The girl's hands were encased in a golden glow and pointed at the Earth Titan's fist, and amazingly the limb was frozen in place.

"What on Earth…?" Sara whispered.

The girl turned and looked at the mother and daughter through the blue-tinted goggles covering her eyes. "Hurry, get out of here!"

"I…I can't!" Sara said. "There was a car wreck, I think I cracked some ribs…I can't move without hurting!"

The blonde nodded her understanding. She took one hand away from the Earth Titan and aimed it at the ground around the threesome. The ground and street cracked and ripped in a jagged circle, and the three girls were lifted up and away from the monster. She carried them away to a nearby street, away from the Earth Titan, and set them down safely.

"Are you two okay?" the blonde asked.

"Other than my ribs, you mean?" Sara said, half-chuckling. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, miss, whoever you are. You saved our lives."

Lauren jumped down from her mother's arms and wrapped her own around the blonde's middle.

"Thank you, lady!" the little girl squealed.

"I'm just…y'know…doing whatever I can to help."

Sara looked at the blonde. "You know, you look familiar…are you one of the Teen Titans?"

The blonde's expression suddenly saddened, and she averted her eyes. "Um…well…no, not…not exactly…"

"I could swear I've seen you before…"

At that moment two other figures approached, and these Sara recognized much more easily. Robin and Cyborg.

"What's going on?" Robin asked.

"The mother has some cracked ribs," the blonde answered. "Can you get her to the nearest hospital?"

"I'll take care of her," Cyborg said. He punched a few buttons on his forearm. "I signaled an ambulance, they'll be here for you in just a minute, ma'am."

"Good save, Terra," Robin said. "Now stop that monster before it gets any further!"

"On my way," the blonde answered.

"Wait, hold on…" Robin suddenly stopped her. He tossed her a small, round device colored yellow and black with a large letter 'T' on it.

Terra gasped. "This…no, Robin, I can't…"

"Take it," Robin said. "We need to stay in contact."

Terra stared at the communicator. "This…does this mean…"

"It means we need to stay in contact. Nothing more, nothing less…for the moment. Now go, stop the Earth Titan."

"But I…"

"GO, Terra!"

After only a moment's hesitation more, she nodded, and flew away on her rock to meet the Earth Titan head-on, leaving a stunned Sara in her wake; she remembered the blonde girl now.

"Terra…? But…wasn't she…the traitor?"

Sara looked back and forth between the two other titans, hoping for some kind of response…but they were both silent…and suddenly, neither of them could look her in the eyes anymore.

A wailing sound reached their ears; the sound of ambulance sirens.

"Looks like your help is here," Robin said blankly to her. "C'mon, Cy…we've got work to do."

And the two titans ran off, leaving a confused Sara in their wake.

* * *

"You should've stayed the pile of pebbles I left you in last night!" Terra shouted at the monster. Not surprisingly, it only roared in response, and swung a fist at her. She dodged the attack easily, floating aside on her rock and firing a blast of terrakinetic energy under the monster's guard. It slammed into the Earth Titan's chest, forcing it backward. Its stubby legs backpedaled wildly, trying to keep from falling over, and it only just managed the feat. It roared in fury, and threw one massive arm forward. It extended and shot straight toward Terra like a freight train. Terra's own hands came up and encased her in a glowing bubble, which the rocky arm crashed into and split like streams of water around the repellant bubble. 

The streams suddenly halted, and reversed direction as the Earth Titan's arm retracted. Terra thankfully dropped the shield and retreated a bit, out of the monster's range. She was already breathing a little heavier than normal. That attack was a lot stronger than anything it had thrown at her in their first encounter. Malchior most definitely had used Starfire's stolen energy to give the monster a power boost. But that was okay. Terra still had plenty of power to spare.

"Okay…round two," Terra muttered. "Okay…he's stronger this time…it won't be so easy to just blow him to bits this time…I'll just have to…have to…"

Terra trailed off as she realized she was being distracted by a low, collective muttering from behind and below her. She turned and looked, and was shocked to see a crowd of people gathered in the street behind her, watching the scene. She couldn't hear much of their mutterings, but she did manage to catch a few snippets.

"…that's the one…"

"…I thought she died…"

"…what is she doing here…"

"…but I thought she…"

Terra knew immediately they were talking about her. She supposed she should've expected it; she was showing up again after half a year of absence. But that wasn't what concerned her at the moment; right now that crowd was way too close to the action.

"What the heck are you all doing?" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Get out of here! It's too dangerous!"

Her words of warning came too late, however. Opting to try for an easier target, the Earth Titan tore up a huge section of sidewalk, and threw it toward the crowd. A gasp rose from both Terra and the citizens. The latter ducked and covered, but the former swooped down to the ground and planted herself between the crowd and the massive projectile. Her powers halted the chunk of earth and cement a few feet from impact, and hurled it straight back at the monster, guided by her own terrakinetic energy. It hit the Earth Titan hard and sent it reeling backward again, leaving it to stumble for balance for the next handful of moments.

"All of you, get away from here!" she said, turning to the people. "It's dangerous, you can only get hurt if you stay here. Hurry, go!"

She was met with stony silence, but she didn't notice. In fact, she had already half-turned back toward the Earth Titan and started moving back toward the battle…until a lone voice spoke up.

"Why should we listen to you?"

Terra froze. She spun back. "Huh?"

"You heard me. Why should we listen to you?" a hard-faced man demanded from the front of the crowd.

"Eric, please, don't, she just saved our lives…" a woman next to him half-whispered.

"Stay out of this, Meg," the man cut her off.

Terra shook her head. "I don't have time for this; I'm telling you for the last time, get out of here, now!"

Terra turned away again and started back toward the Earth Titan, but before she'd taken three steps, she felt something strike the back of her head, hard.

"Ow!" she cried out. She rubbed the spot, and felt something warm and wet on her skin. She brought her hand back around to her face, and saw there was blood on it. She glanced around behind her and saw a sharp, jagged rock on the ground lightly stained red; someone had thrown it at her. She glanced up, and saw the man who had spoken earlier, Eric, standing just in front of the rest of the crowd, glaring at her furiously.

"What…?" Terra started.

"Shut up!" Eric shouted at her, cutting her off. "We don't want your help, you hear me? We don't need a traitor like you around here. We don't want you here!"

For a long moment, Terra only stood there, her face pale and her eyes downcast, dead. _Of course,_ she realized. _Beast Boy might still care…and Starfire…and maybe even Robin and Cyborg…but no one else does…I wrecked their city…destroyed their homes…of course they hate me…they don't want me back…they don't want me to help them…_

A primal roar from the side of the crowd jerked her out of her funk; a great green gorilla had bounded into view and snatched up Eric, snarling at him.

"Whoa-aaaahhhhhh!" he wailed.

The gorilla turned to the crowd and bellowed again, and they finally seemed to get the message; they scattered, screaming.

"D-d-don't kill me…" Eric stuttered. The gorilla complied, dropping him to the ground on his backside. In a flash, the gorilla was gone, replaced by a green-skinned teen.

"Don't you _ever_ talk to her like that again," Beast Boy growled at him. "Get it?"

"G-got it."

"Good. Now you heard the lady. Get out of here."

Eric scrambled to his feet and ran for it, stumbling a few times as he went before he was out of sight.

"Terra? You okay?" Beast Boy said, offering her his hand.

"Not really…" she admitted. "But we have other things to worry about now. Is Starfire okay?"

"Yes, Terra, I am well," Starfire said as she approached from behind the changeling. "I rode on Beast Boy rather than fly myself so I could have more time to recover, but I am not at optimal strength yet, so Beast Boy instructed me to 'low lay' for the moment.

"Lay low," the green titan corrected automatically. "Terra, I need to stick with Starfire. You know what we need to do, right?"

"We…we have to stop Malchior and the Earth Titan," she said.

"Right," Beast Boy said. "Okay…we'll worry about Malchior later, for now we should just focus on the Earth Ti…hey…where'd it go?"

"Huh?" Terra gasped. She spun around; sure enough, the monster had completely vanished.

"What…? But it was right here a second ago!"

Terra's new communicator crackled, and Robin's voice rang through. "Terra, I can't see the Earth Titan anywhere! Did you destroy it already?"

She opened the device. "N-no…it attacked this group of people…I went t-to save them, but by the time I did, it…it just…disappeared!"

"Giant rock monsters don't just disappear all on their own," Robin countered. "It had to have gone somewhere…"

A sudden rumbling cut the Boy Wonder off. It was an extremely familiar sound…

"Is this not the same sound we heard when the worms were burrowing underground?" Starfire reminded them all.

"Yeah…it is, isn't it?" Beast Boy agreed. Is something tunneling around under us?"

Terra breathed in sharply. "Oh no…"

A split second later a huge, rocky hand exploded from within the pavement at Terra's feet, sending slabs of broken concrete flying in every direction. The hand reached and closed around Terra's petite body as the earthen monster connected to it climbed out of the fresh hole in the ground, and began to throttle the life out of her.

"NO! TERRA!" Beast Boy cried out.

"Nu-uh…_no way_ are you going to beat me like this," Terra snarled. "You hear me? NO…FREAKING…WAY!"

The gold in Terra's eyes flashed like the sun, and her power threw the Earth Titan's fingers apart so quickly they broke off and shattered. A glowing platform of stone rose up to catch her; she landed on it smoothly and unleashed a furious wave of terrakinetic energy into the monster's body. The Earth Titan was lifted clean off the ground by the blast and hurled clear out of the city, slamming to a halt back in the quarry from where it had first come.

Terra let her platform set down on the cracked street. She lowered her hands, the gold glow in them, as well as in her eyes, fading. She fell to her knees, breathing hard.

"Wow…" Beast Boy whispered.

Rushing footsteps, one set loud and clunky, one rapid and light, told them Robin ad Cyborg had arrived.

"Beast Boy, Star, good to see you guys!" Cyborg greeted.

"You feeling better, Star?" Robin asked.

"Yes," she said, only half-listening; the other half was marveling at Terra's feat. "Robin…did you see…?"

Beast Boy, too, was still gaping. "…Terra, that was…that was…"

"A futile effort."

Five heads spun toward the new voice; a pale, blue-robed figure stood at the corner of a nearby rooftop.

"Malchior!" Robin hissed.

The sorcerer's cold laugh rang from Raven's possessed mouth. "Your efforts are wasted, you foolish mortals," he said. "The Titans are indestructible! Not even the gods of Olympus could destroy them! What hope could you possibly have?"

"We will stop them, Malchior, and we'll stop you too, I can promise you!" Robin said.

"You will not stop me," Malchior said. "I command more power now than you could possibly fathom!"

"That is power that you have stolen from me!" Starfire shouted.

"Oh no…" the villain sneered at her. "I command much more new power than yours, ignorant little Troq…"

Starfire recoiled as though she'd been slapped. "How DARE you!"

Starfire flew forward, Starbolts blazing at the ready in her hands. But before she was within five feet of him, red fire shot at the Tamaranian. She jerked reflexively, but it still flashed across her shoulder and knocked her out of the air. Robin dashed over and placed himself below, catching her smoothly.

"Dudes…this is not good…look!" Beast Boy pointed. The titans looked, and gasped as one.

Raven's body was morphing…her uniform seemed to melt away into scaly red skin; her nailed elongated into wicked claws; her hair grew long and turned white. Her neck stretched until it was perhaps twenty feet long; her face stretched outward into a lizard-like snout; and great scaly wings and a long, spiked tail sprouted from her spine.

"Oh no…" Robin said. "Rae's demon side…that's the power he's tapped…"

"And now he has revived his dragon body!" Starfire said.

"Not just revived…upgraded," Cyborg added grimly.

The dragon snorted a jet of red-hot flames. "**NOW, MY DEAR TITANS…NOW YOU ALL DIE!**"

* * *


	17. The Weight of the World

Author's Note: My apologies for the incredible lateness of this...between work, a bout of writer's block, and the fact that this is the longest chapter I've ever written, it took obscenely long to get this done. Bleh.

* * *

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

The dragon's mouth opened wide, and a jet of flame spewed downward, roasting the spot where the Teen Titans had been standing an instant earlier. The fivesome scattered and regrouped in a loose ring around the dragon, hoping to box the villain in, but Malchior simply spread his massive wings and took to the air. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Terra followed; Beast Boy raked bird of prey talons across the demon-dragon's scaly armor, Starfire pummeled him with star-bolts, and Terra fired jagged rocks toward his eyes and his less-armored belly. But the damage was miniscule; Malchior didn't seem affected at all. He breathed jets of fire in Terra's direction, but she was darting around on her rock platform too fast. Beast Boy, too, was flying too quickly for Malchior's attack to hit with the impressive speed of a bird of prey. But Starfire…

Malchior sneered; the girl was still weakened. Her flight speed was much lower than normal; the perfect target.

Another jet of red flames shot toward Starfire, and again, she just barely managed to dodge the brunt of the assault, but now the flames lanced across her wounded shoulder again, which only made the pain worse. She drifted down to the ground, clutching it painfully.

Robin ran to her, still keeping half an eye on the battle above him. "Star, please, don't force yourself into this fight," he told her. "You aren't fully recovered…"

"I…am…fine," she insisted, but had to bite back the cry of pain that threatened to escape as Robin touched her shoulder.

"This is a bad burn, Star," Robin said, looking at it more closely. "Don't lie to me. You're faster than that; you should've been able to dodge that attack. Star, please, I don't want you putting yourself in danger recklessly like this!"

"And I do not wish to stand aside and watch while this evil creature harms my friends!" Starfire countered.

"Star, how do you expect to fight with a wound like this?"

"I will manage…" she said through gritted teeth. She shook Robin's hand away from her shoulder and charged on foot back toward the battle, too wounded to fly properly. Praying he was not making the wrong choice in allowing her to continue, Robin too rejoined the fight.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, had matched Malchior's size with his T-Rex morph and was snapping at him with foot-long teeth, trying to sink them into a weak spot in the dragon's armored scales. But if such a spot existed, Malchior hid it well. The T-Rex's teeth only clamped down on rock-hard skin wherever they landed.

Malchior suddenly snapped back at Beast Boy, aiming for his head and belching fire. The great green dinosaur twisted and dodged, swinging his tail around at the same time. It struck Malchior across the snout and twisted the snakelike neck around in a complete one-eighty, so that the dragon's flames washed across his own back for a moment before he could stop them. The smell of burnt flesh rose from the wound, but it was not anything serious enough to weaken the monster.

Cyborg fired his hand out from its wrist socket, trailing a thick cable along with it. It wrapped around Malchior's neck a few times and pulled tight, doing the double-duty of choking Malchior, distracting him; and securing itself tightly enough so that Cyborg could reel the cable in and bring himself up onto the dragon's neck. Dangling from the cable arm, Cyborg twisted his body so that he was facing the dragon's charred wound. The half-robot's shoulders opened up, revealing a half-dozen rockets, three in each shoulder, which launched in unison and spiraled into the wounded spot in Malchior's hide. The dragon roared in furious pain and shook off Cyborg and his cable; the half-metal titan fired the thrusters in his feet to ease his landing beside Robin.

"If we can keep hammering that spot, we might be able to cause him some serious damage," the Boy Wonder observed. Unfortunately, Malchior had realized the same thing, and taken to the air again, keeping his back to the sky.

"We gotta bring him back down to the ground if we're going to do any more damage," Cyborg said. "Any ideas?"

His question was answered by a rock digging itself out of the ground at Cyborg's feet and sharpening itself into a harsh point. Guided by the pale gold hue of Terra's power, the hastily-crafted spear fired at Malchior; not at his head or his belly, but at the inside of his left wing. The projectile pierced straight through the soft flesh and tore out through the other side, leaving a ragged hole and a screeching dragon behind it.

"Whoa! Nice job, Terra!" Beast Boy cheered.

"Terra's got the right idea!" Robin called out. "Everyone, aim for the wings!"

Robin hurled razor-sharp birdarangs, Cyborg unloaded his sonic cannon, Starfire let loose her star-bolts with her good arm, and Terra launched a barrage of jagged rocks; all aimed at Malchior's exposed wings. Malchior twisted and dodged as best he could, but his size was his disadvantage now; he was too big a target to avoid all the projectiles. Before long his wings were so damaged, they could no longer keep him in the air. He crashed unglamorously to the ground, snarling at the Teen Titans.

"We've got him down on the ground! Everybody, give him all you've got!" Robin ordered.

But Malchior refused to go down so easily. As Terra began to fly toward the dragon and the rest of the team charged him on foot, Malchior reared his head back, opened his mouth wide, and breathed an incredibly massive wave of fire down on them. Terra, being in the air, was the only one who managed to steer clear of the attack; the others were facing a wall of death rushing at them, impossible to dodge.

Terra, safe and sound, let out a stifled cry. "NOOOOOO!"

The fire engulfed them completely, scorching everything in its path until it was charred black. Car tires melted, street lights turned red-hot…even the asphalt of the street turned soft and gooey. And from Terra's vantage point, her friends had been roasted alive.

"No…NO!" she screamed. "Star! Robin! Cyborg!"

She drifted down to the roof of a nearby building, where her rock platform touched down, and she fell to her knees, sobbing.

"…Beast Boy…no…"

Malchior twisted his snakelike head and sneered at Terra. "**_NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND? I RULE OVER ALL OF YOU! I AM THE ONE WHO WILL USHER IN A NEW ERA FOR THIS PLANET, ONE FREE OF YOU VILE MORTALS! NOW, GIRL…TIME FOR YOU TO JOIN YOUR FRIENDS IN DEATH!_**"

Malchior inhaled for one more burst of flames, but Terra did nothing. There was nothing she _could_ do. Malchior had won…her friends were gone…Beast Boy was gone…

_Beast Boy…_

All of a sudden, the blaze in Malchior's throat was not the only fire building…another was burning white-hot in Terra's heart.

"You…monster…you're just…just like Slade…"

Terra stood up, staring Malchior down.

"You took away from me everything I cared about!" Terra shouted at him. "The titans…they were the most wonderful people I've ever known…and Beast Boy…he was the greatest friend I ever had…and you took him away from me!"

Her hands began to radiate with golden fire, and the ground beneath them began to rumble and quake.

"YOU HEAR ME, MALCHIOR? HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO EVER CARED ABOUT ME! HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO EVER LOVED ME! AND DAMMIT, I LOVED HIM TOO! YOU HEAR ME? **_I LOVED HIM, AND YOU KILLED HIM!_**"

"**_THEN ALLOW ME TO REUNITE YOU!_**"

Flames erupted from Malchior's jaws just as Terra threw her own hands forward; half the street ripped out of the ground almost effortlessly and planted itself between Terra and the deadly fire. The flames met the shield of rock and concrete, which, guided by Terra pushed against the assault. The two attackers forced their power against one another, each trying to overwhelm the other. But Malchior's burning flame could not repel Terra's rock wall, nor could Terra force back Malchior's flames.

The two incredible powers fought one another desperately for what seemed an eternity, until slowly, inevitably, one side began to weaken…the flames of Malchior's breath were drawing closer…licking around Terra's shield…forcing it back.

"C-can't…hold it…" she muttered to no one. "Beast Boy…I'm sorry…I wasn't strong enough…to stop him…"

And in the next moment, three things happened all at once.

Terra collapsed, her whole body utterly exhausted.

The shield of rock fell away, leaving nothing standing between her and a firey oblivion.

And a strong, nimble blur of green slammed into Terra from the side and threw her clear of the rushing flames milliseconds before they would have engulfed her.

Terra landed with hardly a sound and rolled almost to the edge of the roof, panting. "Wh…what…who…?"

She looked up, and her heart leapt into her throat. She was staring into the eyes of a lime green cheetah, its fur singed black in a few places, and even worse burns in still more spots. But there was no mistaking the beady black eyes that stared back at her.

Beast Boy. He was alive.

The changeling morphed into his elf form, and the burns on his body seemed to grow more pronounced; the material of his costume had peeled away in a few spots, revealing blackened flesh beneath. He was hurt…but it was a small price, Terra thought, to know that he was still there.

"You…you're not dead…" she whispered.

"Yeah…we don't die so easy," Beast Boy said, half-grinning.

Terra gasped. "The others? You mean they're okay too?"

"We're all alive. I don't know about 'okay,' though…"

"What…what do you mean…?"

"Cyborg was able to shield his human parts with the metal ones, but the flames screwed with a lot of his systems. I dodged most of it taking cover behind Cy…"

"What about Robin and Starfire?"

Beast Boy hesitated. "They're not doing so hot."

Terra's heart fell again. "Are they…?"

"Robin…he's such an idiot…he threw himself over Starfire…tried to shield her…she got away with a couple light burns, nothing too serious…but Robin…"

"No…" Terra whispered.

"His costume is flame resistant…but not completely…he still got some pretty bad burns…Star's not taking it so well…dammit…if there was ever a time we needed Raven's healing power, it's now."

Terra's eyes suddenly focused on something behind Beast Boy. "Watch out!" she shouted, yanking him toward her and rolling off the roof just as another wave of fire rushed at them. The two fell arm in arm for a moment before Terra guided in a rock slab to catch them. But her power was at its end; not two seconds after it caught them, Terra's influence over it faded, and it plummeted from the air.

Beast Boy quickly became a pterodactyl and grabbed Terra by the shoulders, but the wounds across his body made it difficult to do anything more than glide. Their descent slowed, but not enough…

At the last moment he changed back to his normal form and twisted their bodies around so that Terra was lying across his chest, and the changeling took the brunt of the impact. They slammed into the ground, hard; and that was the last that the green titan could take; he was out cold before they had even skidded to a stop.

Terra dragged herself to her feet, shaking. This was it, she knew…Beast Boy couldn't save her this time…she was going to die, right here and now, by Malchior's flames…she was going to die before she ever got to tell Beast Boy how much she cared about him…before she ever got to feel his lips on hers…

Vaguely, she was aware of the dragon standing over her. She turned her eyes up to meet Malchior's…tired, defeated…but proud.

Malchior was not impressed. "**_TELL ME, TERRA…WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO DEFY ME, EVEN NOW, WHEN YOU ARE SECONDS FROM DEATH? MY POWER IS FAR GREATER THAN ANYTHING YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN!_**"

"Some…some power," Terra mocked him breathlessly. "I seem…to recall we turned your wings…into Swiss cheese without breaking a sweat."

Malchior's four furious eyes stared down the earth maiden. "**_YOU, GIRL…YOU HAVE IRKED ME AS MUCH AS RAVEN HAS, IF NOT MORE SO…FOR THAT, I PROMISE I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER A THOUSAND…_**"

Malchior suddenly froze mid-speech. His whole body, in fact, seemed so seize up. For a full five seconds he remained frozen like that, not a single muscle moving.

"…A thousand what?" Terra shouted, her voice echoing in the silent, abandoned street. "What's wrong, can't think of a good comeback? Come on! You want to kill me, then KILL ME!"

But Malchior did not; instead he gave an almighty lurch, reared up on his hind legs and gripped his belly with his front ones like he had a stomachache. He choked out a roar and thrashed his massive tail aimlessly, leveling nearby abandoned buildings in seconds.

"**_NO…N-NO, NOT AGAIN…CURSE YOU, WITCH, YOU WILL OBEY MY WILL…I AM…YOU ARE…AAAAAHHHHH!_**"

Malchior pitched forward and hit the ground with a resounding crash, his back to the sky; and out of the blackened wound Cyborg had punched into the dragon's hide, a great black beam of light shot into the sky. And at the head of the beam was a familiar purple-haired figure…

"Ra…Raven?" Terra stuttered. It certainly _looked_ like Raven…but it was Raven as Terra had never seen her before. Her clock and leotard were no longer blue and black, respectively; both were now a bright, radiant white. And the aura about her…it was not the same harsh, unemotional one Terra had grown so used to. It was so much more calm…collected…peaceful, even. Was this the same Raven?

"**_YOU INSUFFERABLE DEMON GIRL! HOW DID YOU ESCAPE ME?_**"

The white-clad Raven stared down at Malchior, eyes flaring black. "Easy. I flew."

"**_I WILL NOT BE MOCKED BY YOU, WITCH!_**"

"But you will be beaten into a bloody pulp by me, you body-stealing psycho!" Raven shot back. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

A furious fight between Raven and Malchior erupted, the dragon's flames clashing with Raven's telekinetic energy. Terra watched it all from a distance, still incredibly weak, but still able to stand and watch in utter fascination. This was Raven as Terra had never, ever seen before. The power she unleashed was incredible. But it wasn't enough. The core of Raven's raw power was in her demon side, the side that she was battling against now…and losing to.

Terra knew it could not be safe to stand there, helpless. With a great effort, she hoisted Beast Boy up over one shoulder and dragged him away from the battle. Now if only she could find the others…if they were still hanging on…

She found them around the next corner, and let out a yelp of horror; Beast Boy hadn't been kidding. Cyborg looked an utter mess; most of his circuitry had been fried, and the metal titan barely seemed able to stand. Starfire's wounded shoulder was now accompanied by a slash of burnt skin across her lower leg. And Robin…

"My God, Robin…" Terra whispered.

Robin was out cold, his chest slowly rising and falling. His costume was no longer red and green and yellow; the whole outfit had been charred black. His skin beneath was mostly okay, protected by the costume's flame resistance, but was now flushed bright red all over and hot to the touch. His face, however, had taken a glancing blow from the flames, leaving a mark of red between his eyes…

Terra blinked in surprise as she registered that fact. _His EYES?_

It was true. The material of Robin's eyemask had peeled away and burned off from the same flames that left the mark on his face, leaving his eyes exposed, though still closed.

Starfire, gripping her shoulder with one hand, laid her other hand on Robin's forehead, her eyes red and puffy; Terra could tell she'd been crying.

"Robin…" the Tamaranian whispered. "Why did you do this? Why did you save me at such a great cost to yourself?"

Robin did not respond; he remained still, leaving Starfire that much more worried for him.

A second later, Cyborg noticed Terra. "Oh, man…BB…" he said, seeing the condition of the titan slung over Terra's shoulder.

"Raven…she broke out," Terra informed him. "She fighting Malchior and losing…isn't there anything we can do to help her?"

Cyborg shook his head grimly. "When we're all wounded like this? Not a damn thing, Terra…not a damn thing."

Just behind Terra, Raven and Malchior crashed into view, still battling it out. Terra spun toward them just in time to see the dragon look past Raven, and directly at her…or more specifically…her and the rest of the wounded team.

Terra realized with a blank stare what was coming next.

"Oh, sh…"

With a sudden burst of speed, Malchior forced Raven aside and dashed straight past her. In one fell swoop of his clawed front leg, he pressed down over the titans, trapping them.

Terra heard Raven utter a loud gasp. "NO! How many times do I have to tell you to leave my friends out of this, Malchior? This is between you and me! Stop hiding behind them, you coward!"

"**_I AM NO COWARD, RAVEN, I AM…AN OPPORTUNIST,_**" Malchior responded. "**_I USE WHATEVER RESOURCES MAKE THEMSELVES AVAILABLE TO ME. YOUR FRIENDS ARE SIMPLY ONE SUCH RESOURCE…AND A VALUABLE ONE, AND THAT._**"

"Let them go!" Raven commanded.

"**_YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO ORDER ME AROUND, GIRL. IT IS YOU WHO WILL LISTEN TO MY COMMANDS, UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO CRUSH YOUR FRIENDS RIGHT HERE AND NOW!_**"

Terra tried to gain enough breath to tell Raven not to listen to Malchior, but she couldn't, not with the clawed leg pinning her down so tightly…and she doubted it would do any good anyway.

She was right. After a moment's hesitation, Raven's body slumped in midair. "What…what do you want?" she muttered.

"**_I AM TIRED OF YOU RESISTING ME, RAVEN…FROM NOW ON, YOU WILL PLEDGE YOUR LOYALTY TO ME, AND NEVER AGAIN SEEK TO REGAIN YOUR PRECIOUS SENSE OF CONTROL._**"

"Fine…whatever you say…just don't hurt my friends…"

"**_I'M NOT SURE I BELIEVE YOU._**"

Raven stared. "What? What are you talking about?"

"**_PROVE YOUR NEW LOYALTIES, RAVEN. LET'S TRY A LITTLE EXPERIMENT, SHALL WE?_**"

Malchior made a quick flick of his claws, and suddenly Terra found herself flung out from beneath the dragon's claws, while the rest remained under its pressure.

"**_IF YOU ARE TRULY LOYAL TO ME NOW, THEN ATTACK, AND DEFEAT YOUR FORMER FRIEND FOR ME._**"

Raven's eyes flared. "No! I won't hurt any of them!"

"**_DO IT! OR I WILL CRUSH THE REST OF YOUR FRIENDS TO DEATH HERE AND NOW!_**"

Raven clenched her fists and locked eyes with Terra, the conflict in here eyes clear. It was painful for the earth maiden to watch…painful, and confusing. Terra was so sure that Raven hated her…why should she be so reluctant to attack the earth maiden now? Surely she would want revenge for all of Terra's wrongs…wouldn't she?

"**_ATTACK!_**"

Raven's eyes squeezed shut. Slowly, haltingly, she raised one hand, and pointed it at the blonde girl.

"A-Azarath…"

Terra's shoulders slumped. _Yes…_Terra thought. _That's exactly what she wants…_

"Met…Metrion…"

And then Raven paused. A sudden calm came over her. Her eyes opened, and locked with Terra's once again as she whispered the last word.

"Zinthos…"

A flash of black lanced toward Terra; in all reality it should have hit the earth maiden instantaneously…but to Terra, it was moving in slow motion…she tried to move out of the way, but she, too, could only move as though she were stuck in molasses.

_'Terra…listen to me very carefully…'_

Terra would have recoiled, if she'd been able to move properly. _Raven?_

'_Yes…listen to me, Terra…I know things seem hopeless…but I have a plan…and I need your help to make sure it succeeds.'_

_M-my help?_ Terra thought.

_'Malchior has accumulated massive amounts of power since his return…aside from his own, he has Starfire's energy, and that of my demon side. Once he gets the rest of mine, he will have all the power he needs to raise the other four Titans, and with those five monsters at his command, he will be able to ruin this world…unless we put a stop to him.'_

_But how?_ Terra wondered. _How can we stop that kind of power?_

_'You must go into my room and get my magic mirror.'_

_Your what?_ Terra asked, confused.

_'Don't worry…you'll understand everything when you wake up.'_

_Huh? When I wake up?_

'_In order to save our friends, I have no choice but to go along with Malchior…but I am not going entirely. Part of me will be a lot closer than you think.'_

_You aren't making any sense!_ Terra yelled in her thoughts, frustrated.

_'I told you, you'll understand everything…soon. Listen, Terra…I won't lie to you…if I had a choice, I wouldn't be doing this with you right now…I still haven't forgotten everything that happened the last time I trusted you.'_

Terra winced at the implications of that statement.

_'But right now, I have no choice. You're the only one who can do this now…you're the only one who can save the world.'_

_Save…the world? N-no…there's no way I could do that…what happens if I screw it up_? Terra asked in a panic. _What happens if Malchior wins, and we all die?_

_'Then the rest of the world won't be far behind,'_ Raven repeated the words she'd told Beast Boy the night before. _'It's all on you, Terra. All my hopes go with you.'_

_What…what are you saying…?_

'_I'm saying…'_ Raven's voice hesitated. _'I'm saying…that I'm putting my trust in you, Terra. You hear me? I…I'm trusting you…one more time…and I'm begging you…please…please don't make me regret it again…'_

Terra was utterly speechless. _She…trusts me…?_

_'Remember…you'll understand everything when you wake up…for now…I'm sorry…but this is going to hurt.'_

And then suddenly time returned to its normal flow. Raven's blast of energy struck Terra, hurling her backward and driving her hard into the ground. And with Malchior's laugh ringing in her ears as she finally blacked out, the last thing Terra was aware of was one ominous, chilling thought:

The weight of the world was now resting on her shoulders…

* * *

**END ACT TWO

* * *

**


	18. ACT THREE: Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**ACT THREE**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

"_**DO YOU KNOW, RAVEN, WHY I HAVE SUCH A LOATHING FOR YOU AND YOUR MORTAL KIN?**"_

_No response._

"_**IN THOSE ANCIENT TIMES, A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, I WAS PROPERLY REVERED. THE PEOPLE FEARED ME, AS WELL THEY SHOULD HAVE. THE MERE MENTION OF MY NAME INSTILLED TERROR IN THE HEARTS OF EVEN THE BRAVEST OF MEN. THEY MADE SACRIFICES TO APPEASE ME…THEY BROUGHT TO ME OFFERINGS OF PRICELESS TREASURES…I WAS WORSHIPPED, RAVEN.**"_

_Again, Malchior was met with stony silence._

"_**AND THEN…ALL THAT CHANGED WITH THE COMING OF ROREK THE MAGE…**"_

_The dragon twisted around and looked at the cluster of multi-colored Ravens sitting still in their cage. The red and black mindscape loomed in every conceivable direction, outlining Malchior's own new red hue. Inside Raven's mindscape, the injuries he'd suffered in the battle with the Teen Titans were non-existent. His back was unburned, his wings her free of every single hole that the teens had made in them. The demon-dragon sneered at the Ravens._

"_**ROREK WAS NOT LIKE THE MORTALS THAT I HAD KNOWN. HE WAS AS MIGHTY AS I, AND UNAFRAID OF ME. HE WAS THE FIRST MORTAL TO EVER STAND AGAINST ME…AND RATHER THAN DYING AS HE SHOULD HAVE, HE SEALED ME AWAY IN THAT WRETCHED BOOK FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. AND SUDDENLY I WAS NO LONGER FEARED, RAVEN. SUDDENLY I WAS A LAUGHINGSTOCK. THE VERY MORTALS WHO HAD ONCE LIVED IN FEAR OF MY POWER NOW SPAT UPON THE PAGES IN WHICH I WAS TRAPPED. THE TITANS FACED A SIMILAR FATE. AND AS THE CENTURIES PASSED, YOUR KIND LOST ALL RESPECT FOR THOSE POWERS GREATER THAN YOU…THEY BECAME ALL BUT MYTHOLOGY.**"_

_Malchior leaned down to gaze more intently at the cluster of Ravens. "**NOW YOU BARELY EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE OUR EXISTENCE. MANY OF YOU CONVINCED YOURSELVES WE NEVER EXISTED TO BEGIN WITH. YOU BEGAN TO THINK OF YOURSELVES AS THE MASTERS OF THIS WORLD. BUT THAT TITLE DOES NOT RIGHTFULLY BELONG TO YOU. THAT TITLE IS MINE TO BEAR, RAVEN…MINE, AND THE TITANS. AND YOU SHALL ALL FEEL OUR COMBINED WRATH…VERY, VERY SOON…**"_

_The dragon turned away from the cage, stepped a few paces away, and flared his wings. A circle of Runes flashed into existence around him as he prepared his own strength and the stolen powers of Starfire and Raven. Unseen to the Ravens, the dragon's physical body did the same out in the real world…as was their own physical body, now bowing to Malchior's every bidding. _

"_**NOW…THE SUMMONING SHALL BEGIN.**"_

_The Ravens were still regarding Malchior with only stony silence._

"_**NO MORE WITTY REMARKS, RAVEN? NO MORE RESISTING MY SUPERIORITY?**" the sorcerer commented. "**HA-HA-HA…I THOUGHT NOT…YES, THERE WILL BE NO MORE RESISTANCE FROM YOU, RAVEN…YOU BELONG TO ME NOW…HA-HA-HA-HA-HA…**"_

_And Malchior returned to his task of summoning the remaining four Titans of myth…but the dragon had made an unfortunate mistake…he had misjudged the cause of Raven's silence…and had equally failed to notice that the Red Raven was not the only color missing from the rainbow…_

_

* * *

Meanwhile, in a very different subconscious…_

* * *

(Where…where am I…?) 

_Terra gazed around in awe. As far as her eyes could see, there was only the untamed earth. There were rock archways, caves, bluffs, box canyons, a clear blue sky…she almost thought she'd ended up in a desert somehow…but the pleasantly cool air and utter lack of cacti and tumbleweeds told her this was not the case. There was something strange about the place…she'd never been there before, as far as she could remember…and yet, it felt…familiar…like she'd been there her whole life. The red and copper-tinted rock faces and cool, soft-floored caves felt almost like…home. It felt like a place where she could be one with the world…somewhere she felt comfortable and familiar and…peaceful._

_"What is this place…?" she said aloud._

_"The best word to describe it is 'mindscape,'" a familiar voice said._

_Terra spun toward it, and almost fell over in shock; it was Raven once again. But for the second time, it seemed she'd experienced a costume change. Her leotard was black again…but her cloak was now a bright, canary yellow, and thick glasses adorned the dark girl's face._

_"R…Raven…? What…what's going on?" Terra stuttered. "Where am I? Why are you…dressed like that?"_

_"Is there something wrong with yellow?" Terra heard her voice say…except she hadn't said anything._

_Terra spun back around, and found herself staring at…herself._

_"WAAH!" Terra wailed, falling backward on her butt. Sure enough, **another** Terra stood over her…except this one, like Raven currently, was dressed all in yellow and wore great big glasses. Her hair was also a different shade of blond…it was less of a golden tint, and more of a canary yellow, like her outfit._

_"Relax, Terra," the yellow-clad body-double said._

_"What…who…how…?" Terra muttered._

_"Hehehehehe…" Terra heard her voice again, only much more giddy and high-pitched. "I had a bet with Red on how you'd react…looks like I won!"_

_Terra spun once more, and her eyes bulged so far out of their sockets they were in danger of falling out; a **third **Terra, this one dressed – and hair-dyed – in shockingly bright pink, was now standing beside the yellow-clad Raven._

_"I don't remember anyone telling me I was a triplet…" Terra muttered._

_"It's a little more than that, hon!" the Pink Terra cooed. She cupped her hands over her mouth. "HEY EVERYBODY! COME ON OUT!"_

_And to Terra's utter amazement, more copies of herself appeared from all around the earthen landscape, every one fully garbed and hair-styled with a different color. There must have been almost a dozen of them in total._

_"This…is weird…" Terra said, half-confused, half in awe._

_"Don't be afraid," the yellow Raven assured the earth maiden. "I know this is probably a bit of a strange experience…"_

_"Yeah, just a bit," Terra remarked, dripping sarcasm. She glanced around at the various copies of herself. "Will one of…me…explain what the heck is going on?"_

_"They're your emotions," Yellow Raven said._

_"My emotions?" Terra echoed._

_"Yes. In this place your emotions are given physical form. Each of these different 'copies' of you represents your various emotions. The Pink one is your joy and happiness. Green is your bravery and boldness…"_

_A green-clad Terra socked the earth maiden in the arm from behind. "Hey, good job kicking Slade's ass way back when!" she cheered. "I'd been waitin' for ya to do that ever since I first saw his ugly mug!"_

_"Uhh…thanks…?" Terra said uncertainly, rubbing the sore spot where she'd been punched._

_"Grey represents most of your negative emotions…fear, guilt, regret, and the like," Yellow Raven continued, gesturing with a hand. Terra followed the wave to a copy of herself that looked like it had climbed out of a black-and-white photograph, and seemed to have a permanently sad face etched into her._

_"The Red one is your anger and rage…you want to be really careful with that one…"_

_A low snarl caught Terra's ear. She followed the sound to a fiery-red-headed Terra, who glared at the original._

_"**Don't listen to that Green fool,**" the Red Terra hissed. "**Slade had the right idea all along, I'd say.**"_

_"O-okay…not going to be talking to that one much…" Terra thought aloud._

_"**Funny…you used to listen to me all the time.**"_

_Grey Terra couldn't help but shiver at that remark…and the real Terra felt it as well._

_"Ahem…" Raven interrupted. "Lastly is Yellow, which represents your intelligence and rational thought. I often find that seeing things from all my different perspectives often helps me to think; I'm sure you'll come to see this yourself, if this ever becomes a regular practice for you."_

_"This is so weird…I've never seen anything like this before…"_

_"You wouldn't have. You never did meditate with me during your time with the titans. I suppose you could say my influence draws them out of you…out of anyone, really…you should've been there when Starfire meditated with me…if you think she's happy now, you should meet HER Pink side…"_

_Terra didn't feel much like laughing. She looked past the assorted copies of herself and stared at the earthen terrain that stretched off into the distance around her. "You said…this place…it's called a 'mindscape?'"_

_"**Your** mindscape," Raven corrected. "A place within your subconscious mind that reflects the deepest part of your soul. A place in which you can feel…comfortable…at peace."_

_"**My** mindscape? You mean everyone has one of these?"_

_"Yes, buried deep in their subconscious. Starfire's, as you can imagine, had a rather wide array of bright colors. Mine is more of a place of quiet and solitude. And this…this is yours. A place where you are one with the earth, with the power that runs through your body."_

_"Okay…that explains where we are…but how did you get here, Raven?"_

_"The truth is, Terra, I'm not Raven. Not exactly."_

_"Then…who are you?"_

_"You remember when Raven told you that 'a part of her will be a lot closer than you think?' That, Terra, is what I am."_

_"You mean you aren't actually Raven?"_

_"Not entirely, no. I'm her yellow side…the core of her intelligence, logic, and rationale. When she fired on you at Malchior's command, you remember she made that mental link with you?"_

_"Yeah…" Terra said slowly._

_"When that happened, she transferred me into you."_

_"Transferred you…what?" _

_"She mentally projected her intelligence – me – into your mind."_

_"You can do that?"_

_ "It would appear so."_

_"…Wow…that's…amazing…" Terra marveled. "But…how? Why?" _

_"Raven has known for some time now of a way to project her 'soul self.' What she has done here is just an adaptation of that power, a skill she learned from Malchior. But 'how' is not important. 'Why,' is what you should be concerned with."_

_"Okay…**why** did Raven send you to me?"_

_"Because she needs our help," Yellow Terra said._

_"Exactly," Yellow Raven agreed. "When Malchior convinced Raven's Red side - her demonic essence - to join him, there wasn't anything left to stop him from summoning the rest of the Titans. Even as we speak he is preparing to do so. But I had one last, desperate idea left…and…well, here I am."_

_"By sending all her knowledge into us," Yellow Terra continued, "she sent her plans to stop Malchior as well, so that he can't dig through her mind and discover it…but…"_

_"It's left my body little more than a living puppet," Yellow Raven finished. "With me gone, Raven is now effectively mindless, with no will of her own. She will follow Malchior's every order without hesitation."_

_"That can't be good…" Terra said. "But…I still don't get why she sent you to me. What can I do?"_

_"Remember what we told you, Terra. You need to get our magic mirror."_

_Terra remembered the request well. "Where is it? What does it do?"_

_"It's in our room," Yellow Raven said. "And it's essentially a portal into our mindscape."_

_"You want me to go into your mind?" Terra guessed._

_"No…I want **all **of us to go there. You, me, Malchior, and all the rest of the Titans…both ours**and** his."_

_Terra raised an eyebrow. "That's…a lot of people to have in your head at once."_

_"If we can get everybody into my mindscape, we can defeat Malchior and his Titans without shredding the city apart and threatening more innocent lives. Raven already felt guilty enough for the people who died when the Earth Titan was summoned. We don't want to see any more death."_

_"Can we really beat those things, though?" Terra asked. "I mean…they're so powerful…The Earth Titan alone beat the rest of our friends…"_

_"I admit, it's a serious long-shot, but right now it's all we've got, and we have to take this chance before we lose it. We'll worry about how to fight Malchior's Titans later…for now, that mirror is our only hope. You have to go and get it, Terra. And once you have it, DON'T look directly into it, or you'll get sucked in prematurely. I'll instruct you further once you have it."_

_"O…okay…" Terra agreed. "One step at a time…I can do this…"_

_"All right, that's the spirit!" Pink Terra cheered._

_"Yes! Action time!" Green Terra added._

_"Time for us to wake up, then…" Yellow Terra said._

_And suddenly Terra felt her consciousness rising…leaving the mindscape and climbing back up to the real world…_

_She closed her eyes, and felt herself expanding…returning to her body…_

_She opened her spiritual eyes…_

And then…she woke up.

* * *

Author's Note: apologies for lateness...went on a vacation to San Fransisco for Independence Day. Quicker update next time, I promise. 


	19. Mirror, Mirror, In My Hands

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 18**

"Unnh…"

"Hey, she's coming around…" a deep voice said through the haze.

"She is?" a higher-pitched squeak responded. "Let me see her!"

"Chill, dude, she's fine…"

"Yes, friend," a new, feminine voice said. "She seems undamaged."

Terra heard the jumbled voices around her, slowly growing clearer as she climbed out of the groggy haze in her head. Her eyes opened in a squint, blinded by the sunlight. Her hands slowly came up to block the light so her eyes could adjust to the sights around her. She saw Cyborg on her left, supporting a wounded, unconscious Robin over one shoulder. Starfire hovered behind the blonde girl, her hands clasped together in a pose of worry. And Beast Boy was crouched down beside her head, gripping her free hand in both of his.

Terra sat up, shaking the haze out of her head, and glanced into the distance; she could just barely see a brewing storm at the edge of the city, where most of the fighting had occurred. Malchior, still in his massive dragon form, stood directly beneath the storm, and Raven hovered just above him. Black, red, green, and purple energy was flowing from the two bodies, gathering in the storm above, and Terra immediately knew what was happening; Malchior had started the summoning. The Earth Titan had also returned to its master's side, and stood silently, motionless, as its master raised its brethren.

"Hey, Terra…you all right?"

"Y…yeah…" she muttered back to the changeling. "How long was I out?"

"Maybe half an hour after Raven blasted you…" Beast Boy said, sneering on that last bit.

"BB, what's wrong?" Terra asked.

"What wrong?.!" The changeling exclaimed. "Raven tried to kill you, that's what's wrong! And now she's over there helping Malchior raise the rest of those nasty Titan dudes!"

"Don't be mad at her, Beast Boy," Terra said as she shakily got to her feet. "She didn't really try to hurt me, it was just an act…it's all part of her plan…"

"What plan?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't have time to explain right now…I have to get back to the Tower! You guys have to get over there and stall Malchior as long as you can until I get back!"

"What are you going to do?" Cyborg demanded.

"I told you, I can't explain, you just have to trust me-"

Terra cut herself off then and winced…she knew that wasn't going to go over well, coming from her. And sure enough…

"Terra, Robin's out of commission for the moment. That leaves me in charge. And I say we need everyone right here, holding back Malchior. Including you."

"Cyborg, that's not the right move!" Terra said. "I know it seems that way, but you have to believe me, I know how we can stop him and the other Titans, AND get Raven back, and if we're going to do that, I need to get back to the Tower!"

She glanced at Beast Boy and Starfire, hoping for some sign of where they stood, but both were looking intently at Cyborg, knowing full well that the decision was his.

"Terra…" Cyborg started.

"You have to trust me, Cyborg!" Terra begged. "I know I'm the last person in the world to deserve it, but I'm telling you, it's our only chance! Raven has a plan, and I need to do everything I can to make sure it works. You have to let me go!"

Cyborg's fists clenched momentarily…but then relaxed. "Unnhh…well…if Raven's trusting you…"

A relieved grin broke out on the blonde girl's face. Thank you, Cyborg…"

"Here," the titanium teen said, handing Robin's limp form over to the earth maiden. "Take him with you. He'll just be dead weight if he stays here…at least at the Tower he'll be a little safer."

"Okay…and don't worry, I promise I'll be back as fast as I can!"

"What are you waiting for, then? Get going!" Cyborg ordered.

Terra nodded. She stole a quick glance at Beast Boy, then ripped a chunk of earth from the street, laid Robin on the platform, and hopped on next to him.

"Just hold Malchior off as best you can, and don't get yourselves killed!" Terra called to the team.

"Watch yourself, Terra!" Beast Boy called back.

"Yes…be safe, friend!" Starfire echoed. "And be mindful that Robin does not fall!"

"All right Titans, let's go kick some dragon butt!" Cyborg shouted. The three remaining teens ran the opposite direction to where Malchior's massive dragon form and the smaller figure of Raven's mindless body were engaged in the summoning. Terra watched them go for a moment, her eyes on the smallest of the three.

_Beast Boy…_

She shook her head to clear it, and her eyes hardened. Beast Boy was doing his job…it was time for her to do hers.

She glanced down at Robin's limp, burned form, making sure he was secure on the rock platform, then summoned her thermal energy, lifted the rock into the air, and sped off toward Titans Tower.

* * *

She arrived in a matter of minutes, and easily picked out which window was Raven's; it was little more than a hole in the wall now after Malchior shattered it for the second time. She held her rock ledge at the windowsill so she could haul Robin inside and lay him down on Raven's bed. She saw the Boy Wonder beginning to stir, but ignored him for the time being as she went in search of Raven's magic mirror. She had no idea how she was going to find it, though…the room was a total mess…Malchior's doing, Terra remembered from Beast Boy's explanation. 

_It should be lying on top of my dresser,_ Terra heard Yellow Raven guide her. The blonde followed the directions, but saw nothing there except a framed photograph of the original five titans. With a pang of guilt she found herself wondering if she would have had a place in that photo, had she not turned on them…

_Focus, Terra,_ came Yellow Raven's voice. _The mirror probably got blown off somewhere…look on the floor around the dresser._

"Right," she muttered, tearing her eyes from the photo. She knelt down and searched around the floor for the mirror, but all she succeeded at doing was encountering another framed picture…and this one, to Terra's shock, was of her.

With a fleeting memory she remembered exactly when this picture had been taken…the team had gone out to pizza the day after she had joined them, and Beast Boy had insisted on taking a few pictures to commemorate the occasion. Terra, never a very photogenic person, had tried to politely refuse on the grounds that they didn't have a camera, but of course Cyborg had a camera built into his non-human optic, so Beast Boy had managed to get a shot of her smiling in an amused sort of way, as well as a few others, before she'd grown too embarrassed to keep it up.

Terra gazed at the photo in utter confusion, tracing one finger along the crack in the glass frame. Why did Raven of all people keep a picture of her still…?

_We don't have time for this, Terra,_ Yellow Raven said. _You can get lost on memory lane some other time, when giant dragons and ancient monsters AREN'T threatening our very existence._

Terra's eyes remained glued to the photo for perhaps another few seconds, but eventually she nodded and laid the picture down next to the dresser, and resumed her search. Not two minutes later, she found it, half-buried in a pile of Raven's spare robes. It was lying mirror-side down, and as Terra picked it up she instinctively began to turn it over…

**_NO!_** Yellow Raven barked. _Do NOT look into it directly! We don't want you getting sucked in there…not yet._

Terra quickly turned it back so the mirror side was facing away from her.

_Now, Robin sounds like he's waking up…start with him. Tell him to look into the mirror…its magic will take care of things from there._

Terra nodded to the invisible voice, and brought the mirror over to the Boy Wonder. "Hey, Robin…you awake?"

"Uunnhh…" Robin muttered. "Where am I…?"

"The Tower. I brought you here after you passed out, so you'd be safe."

Robin rubbed his hand over his face...and let out a sudden gasp as he covered his face. "M-my mask! What...where is it?"

"Oh, that...it got burned off."

"Burned off? How?"

"That would be when you got yourself scorched by a dragon," Terra simpered.

Terra's words triggered Robin's memory a moment later, because he suddenly snapped up, blue eyes wide. "Starfire! Is she-"

"She's fine, Robin, don't worry…now listen, I need you to-"

"I have to get back there! They need my help!" he grunted, climbing to his feet, but almost immediately his legs gave out and he fell back down on the bed.

"Robin, you aren't going to do anyone any good like this. But trust me, Raven has a plan. I don't have time to explain, but I promise you it's our only chance."

"Whatever it is, it better involve me getting out there and kicking that dragon's sorry ass…" Robin insisted as he tried to get up again.

Terra held him down with her free hand. "Even better." She held up the mirror with her other hand. "Look at this."

Robin glanced into the mirror, unsure of why he was being told to…and then it occurred to him what he was looking at.

"Hey, isn't this-"

Before he said another word, the mirror flashed, and what looked like a breath of fog escaped Robin's lips and flew into the mirror. The Boy Wonder then collapsed, his whole body limp and numb.

_Perfect…his subconscious mind has entered my mindscape…now for the rest of them…Malchior and his Titans aren't going to come willingly, but I have just the spell for that…let's go, Terra._

"On it," she said. She leapt back on her rock and flew as fast as she could go back toward the growing storm.

And as she left, it suddenly occurred to her that she'd seen Robin's face, unmasked. And the face she'd seen...it was one she knew. One she'd seen in the papers more than a few times. The heir to the multi-millionare Bruce Wayne.

It had been the face of Dick Grayson.

_You must keep his secret, Terra,_ came Raven's voice again. _He hides his identity for a reason. _

"R-right..." Terra muttered. Her mind back on the task at hand, she sped onward once more.

* * *

"The summoning is nearing completion, master," Raven's voice droned. "The ancient seal on the Titans' prisons are broken, and the portal into this world is almost open." 

"**_GOOD, MY SLAVE…YOU ARE PERFORMING ADMIRABLY…_**" Malchior hissed. "**_JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES, AND THE REST OF THE TITANS SHALL WALK THE EARTH ONCE MORE…_**"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!"

Malchior twisted his snakelike head toward the small voice, and sneered as he saw the remaining three of the Teen Titans standing before him.

"Give it up, Malchior!" Beast Boy went on. "You should know by now the good guys always kick the bad guys' butts!"

"**_RRAAUGH! INSOLENT PESTS!.!_**" Malchior snarled. "**_SLAVE! GET RID OF THESE FOOLS ONCE AND FOR ALL! I WILL COMPLETE THE SUMMONING MYSELF!_**"

"Yes, master," Raven droned. She turned her eyes upon her friends…and now they were blank. Cold. Uncaring. 'Raven' was gone. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

A black bolt of energy lanced at the three titans, forcing them to scatter. Beast Boy morphed into a Pterodactyl and clutched Cyborg's shoulders, lifting him off the ground and into striking distance of Malchior. He aimed his one good sonic cannon at the blackened wound in the dragon's back, praying the cannon was not too damaged to work. Fortunately it had at least one blast left in it; blue lightning shot with perfect accuracy at the wound…

…and was halted ten feet before it could strike by a wall of black.

"You shall not interfere with my master," Raven droned from where she hovered at Cyborg's left flank.

"Dammit, Raven, snap out of it! What is wrong with you?.!" Cyborg shouted.

Raven did not respond. She threw one pale hand forward and blasted Cyborg and Beast Boy out of the air with a shockwave of telekinesis. The two boys went sprawling to the broken street, and Cyborg, to his misfortune, landed on top of his working sonic cannon; the screeching of metal against concrete told him that the cannon was definitely not going to be working anymore.

Raven glanced to her other side and realized Starfire was hovering there beside her. The mindless dark girl turned her blank eyes fully upon the Tamaranian.

"Raven, you must fight Malchior's control!" Starfire begged. "He is an evil being! He will cause nothing but pain and suffering!"

"I must obey my master," Raven's lifeless voice answered. The blank eyes flashed, and Starfire too was hurled roughly to the ground beside Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"I got nothing left," Cyborg muttered. "My weapons are shot."

"Ditto…" Beast Boy said. "Ow…I can't even move without something hurting…"

Starfire struggled to her feet, clutching her wounded shoulder in ever-increasing pain. "Then…we have no hope but to pray that this plan concocted by Raven and Terra succeeds," she said.

And so the Titans could do nothing but watch as Malchior fed the last bits of energy needed to complete the summoning…

"**_YES! YES!.!.! RISE, TITANS, AND RECLAIM THE WORLD THAT IS RIGHTLY YOURS TO RULE! RISE!.!.!.!.!.!_**"

The storm overhead seemed to explode with a rainbow of light. It raged uncontrollably, raining bolts of lightning at everything around and demolishing more than a few buildings long since abandoned.

And then, at the core of the raging storm, a gaping hole of blackness opened wide, and a great, bloated, meaty body dropped from it. Its skin was a very human shade of peach, and its figure seemed generally human right down to the tattered loincloth around its waist; but the resemblance stopped there, for it gazed out at the world with one enormous eye in the center of its face.

"The Cyclops…" Cyborg muttered. "Dammit…it's starting…"

"Dudes…did somebody just turn up the thermostat…?" Beast Boy groaned. "It's so hot…"

Beast Boy wasn't imagining it; for the next Titan that emerged from within the core of the storm appeared to be a living blob of molten Earth. Flames leapt and danced across its nearly shapeless body, and red-hot magma dripped from its gooey arms, scorching everything it touched and melting the asphalt beneath it into a stinking puddle of rock and tar.

"The Titan of Fire…" Cyborg continued.

A wind then picked up, not only cooling the air but blowing around everything that wasn't bolted down; the teens had to struggle to not get blown away themselves. The source of the wind then emerged from the black portal; a living tornado with great bulbous eyes, arms that whipped about in the monster's own wind, and a great gaping maw that could only be its mouth, blowing hurricane gales across the landscape.

"The Titan of Wind…"

And lastly, a chill fell over the landscape as a tall, spindly pair of frozen legs, a stick-figure body, long, sharp, wicked claws for hands, and an, empty-eyed, dragon-like head emerged from the portal. Every inch of its body pulsed with a freezing-cold aura as it stood taller than any of the others, taller than even Malchior, and roared mightily.

"The Titan of Ice…" Cyborg finished his commentary.

At last…the five Titans had been raised. And now, Malchior was directing them straight for the three battered teammates.

Cyborg watched the looming monsters sadly, feeling all but helpless. "How…how can we hope to beat this…?"

"Is there…no hope?" Starfire whispered.

"Just…just one…" Beast Boy said. "…Terra…"

"You called?"

And right on cue, a slab of rock swept into view, carrying the earth maiden on top of it and planting itself directly between the two teams of Titans.

"Terra! You're back!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"So? What's this big plan of yours?" Cyborg demanded.

"I've got it right here," Terra said, raising the mirror in her hands.

Beast Boy's and Cyborg's eyes bulged. "THE MIRROR?.!" they exclaimed together.

"Yeah…hold onto your butts…this is going to be a weird ride."

Terra raised the mirror high overhead, barely noticing the tiny "Eep!" from Starfire as she took the blonde's words literally.

"Okay, Raven…do your stuff…" she muttered.

Terra closed her eyes, and let go of herself. And the instant she did, she felt the other consciousness within her, that of Raven's rational mind, draw forward and take the control offered her by the earth maiden.

Terra's eyes opened again…but they were no longer her own sky blue, but Raven's deep purple…and when she spoke, it was Raven's, not Terra's, voice that came from her mouth.

"_Nor-Tallomor, Sephris, Hezberek, Malakai, Necronom! Be lost within the warpings of the mindscape, foul demons! AZARATH, METRION, **ZINTHOS!.!.!.!**_"

Black lightning crackled from the mirror, arcing outward from its glass surface. Each bolt found its way to one of the Titans, both the teens and the monsters. The last three bolts launched respectively at Malchior, Raven…and Terra herself. And with hardly a chance to register surprise, one by one a wisp of…something…escaped their bodies and flew into the magic mirror. One by one, as those wisps escaped them, their bodies became rag-dolls, flopping lifelessly to the ground…very destructively, in the case of Malchior and his oversized Titans.

Terra herself was the last one affected. As the magic worked on her, she felt her mind, as well as Raven's Intelligence, being pulled inexplicably toward the mirror.

_It's time, Terra,_ Yellow Raven said. _Here is where we face Malchior for the final time. In my mindscape, where those freaks can't harm the innocent any longer. You and the titans, take care of Malchior's Titans. I…that is…Raven…we'll take care of Malchior himself._

_Okay…good luck, Raven…_ Terra answered.

The last thing she was aware of in her own body was her legs giving out…but her mind was gone before her body had hit the ground…and suddenly Terra found herself in a very, very different world…

* * *


	20. Terra versus The Earth Titan: Final Bout

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Despite being the last to be drawn into the mirror, Terra was actually the first to appear in Raven's mindscape. She seemed to literally ride a bolt of black lightning down from the red and black sky to land on a hard, rocky surface of stone that seemed to be hovering above an endless oblivion of the same red and black as the sky. But it was unlike any rock she'd seen on Earth. It was a dark gray, almost black color, and made of some strange material she couldn't identify. Experimentally, she focused her powers on it, unsure if she would be able to command control of it. To her relief, the stone responded to her, a small chunk of it glowing gold and breaking away to hover in midair.

"Terra!"

The blonde girl spun around, and spotted a large stone cage just behind her, and inside she saw…

"Raven!" Terra gasped.

It was indeed Raven…the true Raven. She stood at the front of the cage, surrounded by the rest of her emotions, except for the obviously absent Yellow and Red.

Terra ran toward the cage. "Hold on, I'll get you out of there…"

"You can't," Raven cut her off.

"Sure I can! It's made of stone! I just tried out my powers, and they still work here…"

"Not on this cage, they won't," Raven told her. "You can't break it, not on your own. We'll need the rest of the team to help me out of here…where is…"

"Right here," Raven's voice said, but from behind them. Terra glanced backward and saw the bespectacled, yellow-clad Raven standing there.

"Sorry about having to take control of you like that," Yellow said to Terra, "but it was necessary." She turned to her counterpart. "The plan's working so far, Raven. Terra's gotten everybody in here…and I've manipulated the mirror's magic to give us some time to free the rest of our emotions and gather the team together before Malchior shows up. With any luck…this just may work."

"Good. Thanks, Yellow…I appreciate what you've done."

Yellow forced a slight cough. "Isn't there someone _else_ here who also deserves your thanks, Raven?"

Raven said nothing for a handful of seconds, her expression steady as she turned to face the earth maiden.

"Terra…" she began slowly, "I…"

Four bolts of obsidian lightning in quick succession slammed down around them, halting Raven's words as the four remaining Teen Titans appeared from within the strikes.

Terra's heart leapt at the sight. "Guys, you made it! You…"

Terra trailed off then, and stared, dumbstruck, at the team. "You…you're…not…"

"…wounded…" Robin finished, staring at his hands.

It was true. Every one of the Titans seemed in perfect condition. Cyborg's titanium armor was sleek and shiny, every system fully operational. Beast Boy's assorted scrapes and bruises were gone. Starfire's vicious shoulder wound had vanished. And Robin's burns were healed, and his costume was back to normal…

_Mask and all…_ Terra noticed. Robin seemed to realize it as well, for Terra saw him breath an almost invisible sigh of relief as he felt his mask back on his face. His now-shielded stare turned on Terra, and she looked back at him with a sudden pang of guilt. She wasn't supposed to know his secret…but she did. And the way his eyes narrowed as he stared at her now…

_He knows,_ she realized.

The others, too wrapped up in the surprise of discovering their lack of injury, noticed none of their exchange.

"Robin, you are unburned!" Starfire exclaimed, drawing his harsh stare away from the earth maiden as she wrapped him in a bear hug.

"Ack…glad you're…okay, too, Starfire…" he choked out.

Terra felt a hand on her own shoulder, and turned to see Beast Boy's smiling face. Neither of them spoke; they merely embraced, thankful for each other's presence.

"This is…impossible," Cyborg said, staring at his miraculously fixed parts. "How did I get repaired?"

"Technically, you aren't," Raven said, drawing their stares.

Starfire let out a gasp. "Friend Raven! Who has imprisoned you like this?.!"

"Malchior's doing," Raven muttered. "Listen…you're all unharmed because these aren't your real bodies. Your bodies are all right where you left them, bruised and battered. These are our mental selves; your brain's projection of your natural appearance."

"OH! Like in the Matrix!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"……Sure. Why not."

"COOL! Can I run up walls and defy gravity and dodge bullets, too?.!"

"No."

Beast Boy deflated. "Aww, nuts…"

"What is this place?" Robin wondered aloud.

Beast Boy and Cyborg suddenly seemed to shiver.

"BB and I have been here once before," the titanium teen said. "We're inside Raven's head. That mirror was a portal. It brought us all here."

"What?.! If we're in here, where's Malchior and his Titans?.!" Robin exclaimed.

"**_RIGHT HERE._**"

Robin and the Teen Titans spun just in time to notice a burst of dragon flames rushing at them. The team scattered, and the fire plowed into the magical barrier that currently imprisoned Raven.

Robin recovered instantly, drawing out a fan of explosive discs as he turned to face the serpent-like voice. "Malchior…"

Indeed, the monstrous dragon loomed over them all, as red and terrible in his demonic union as ever, but worse in that the wounds he'd suffered in the physical world had vanished, just as those of the Teen Titans had done. Flanking him were the five Titans of Greek myth, all glaring down at the teens as though they were mortal enemies…because, for the time being…that was exactly what they were.

"Get us out of here…fast!" Raven demanded from her prison.

The rest of the Titans formed a wall between Malchior's group and the Raven's, while Yellow summoned her power and unleashed it upon the cage. Inside, Raven and her various other emotions did the same. The attacks from both sides shattered the cage, freeing Raven and her other emotions.

"You ready?" she asked of Yellow.

"Always," was her response.

Raven nodded to the other emotions, who formed a circle around her. They all began to glow with an incredible energy, and flew in a circle around the dark girl, slowly at first, but more quickly every second.

"Hurry up, Raven, they're coming!" Robin shouted.

A brilliant flash of white light and black lightning shone from behind the Boy Wonder just as he finished speaking. He chanced a glance backward, and as the glow faded, he saw that Raven had again transformed. Her assorted emotions were gone…and now Raven stood in robes of a radiant white.

She raised her hands, and black energy crackled in her fingertips. "Everyone, split up and draw them apart from each other," Raven said to her teammates. "One on one. Pick a target and stick with it."

"I'll take care of the Earth Titan," Terra insisted.

"That ugly Cyclops is mine!" Beast Boy said.

"I've got the windbag," Cyborg said.

"And I shall do battle with the molten blob monster," Starfire said.

"That leaves me and the frozen Paul Bunyon," Robin added.

"And Malchior is mine…" Raven finished.

Raven released the energy she'd gathered and fired it at the monstrous Titans. It formed into a shockwave of incredible proportions, sending all of them but Malchior flying in different directions and giving each of the teens ample space to handle the monsters one on one.

"Be careful," Raven warned the team before they split. "Malchior still controls some aspects of my mindscape. He may use that to mess with your heads. If something seems out of place, don't trust your eyes…"

"Got it," Robin said. His staff blurred into his hands and spun in three quick circles. "All right, team! Let's finish this fight once and for all! TITANS, **_GO!.!.!_**"

Five of them dashed off in different directions to engage the Titans of myth…but Raven remained where she was, staring down Malchior, and her demon essence that had unified with him.

"This ends, here and now," Raven said.

"**_INDEED IT DOES, SWEET RAVEN…COME, THEN…LET US SEE WHO IS TRULY THE STRONGER FORCE…WHO ARE THE GREATEST OF THE TITANS…_**"

And with two explosions of energy, Raven and Malchior launched at one another, faces set in vicious snarls.

The Clash of the Titans had begun.

* * *

"You ready to go down a third time?.!" 

Terra hovered on a lump of stone high in the air, glaring down at the Earth Titan. Predictably enough, the monster's only reply was a rumbling roar and a swinging fist. Terra rose higher, dodging the swipe.

"I never did like you big dumb brutes," Terra muttered. "RAAAHHH!.!.!"

Thermal-kinetic energy blasted from Terra's palms, blasting away the fist that came at her again. The monster shrieked in fury and swung its other fist, but again Terra blasted it away.

"I'm getting so sick of kicking your oversized behind!" Terra shouted. "Let's finish this for good!"

The earth maiden clenched her fists together and gathered energy. The golden glow in her hands spread up her arms, out of her eyes and down her petite body, through her legs…until every inch of her was radiating with golden light. But it did not stop there. Soon it was more than just a golden outline to her body, but a literal cloud of energy, engulfing her whole body until her form was just barely visible.

The Earth Titan glared with its two bobbing heads at the speck of gold, let out a roar, and swung both hands forward, palms flat. With hardly a warning, the hands sandwiched the girl with a loud _SMACK_!

The golden glow vanished instantly.

Slowly, the Earth Titan opened its hands…but strangely, there was nothing to be found. No earth maiden gone _splat_, no trace of her glowing energy…nothing.

The Titan squinted blankly and grunted, trying to see more clearly…

_**CRACK!**_

A huge gash appeared in the hand the Earth Titan was staring at. Its beady red eyes widened in surprise as the crack split further, winding its way up the monster's massive arm and through its shoulder…

_**CRACK!**_

A second split appeared in its other hand, and traced all the way up the other arm.

_**CRACK-CRACK!**_

Two more fissures appeared in the monster's stubby legs and split their way upwards into its massive belly.

The four cracks spread, multiplied into dozens…hundreds of tiny splits along the monster's body, all the way up to its two wide-eyed heads. And once its whole body was engulfed in the tiny fissures…golden light began to trace along the four original splits, gradually spreading out into the Earth Titan's whole body, lighting up every single crack there was.

The Earth Titan bellowed in pain and rage, but there was nothing it could do…

The light shone like a beacon…the monster's body began to rumble and quake, unstable…

"**_RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!.!.!.!.!_**"

For the final time, the Earth Titan shattered into countless fragments of rock and earth, littering the ground with its broken body. And hovering where it once stood was a glowing, golden-haired girl.

Terra was breathing heavily, but otherwise unharmed. She'd done it. She'd won.

"Game…Set…and Match," she said between gasping breaths. "Do me…a favor…and stay down this time…"

She touched down on the ground, her breathing gradually slowing. She glanced around the mindscape, wondering where everyone else was…

A large hand, cold as titanium, suddenly touched her shoulder. Terra smiled. "Cyborg…" she assumed, turning around. "You're okaaYYYYAAAHHH!.!.!.!.!"

Cyborg's body was mangled. Horribly. Circuitry was smashed, the sonic cannon was wrecked, his cybernetic eye was ripped out…but the human side of his face was what truly horrified her. The flesh around his mouth looked like it had rotted away, exposing his bony jaws. His one human eye looked like it has been gouged out, and blood streamed steadily down his face from the gaping hole in which the eye used to be, dripping down his shattered titanium torso.

"You killed me, Terra."

Terra screamed again, backpedaling as fast as she could, until she felt her back hit another soft body.

"You killed me, Terra…"

The earth maiden spun at the voice to find Starfire. Her skin was clammy and pale. Her clothes and hair were soaking wet, and liquid was flowing out of her blank green eyes….whether is was more water, or tears, Terra couldn't tell. If the earth maiden didn't know any better, it looked as though she'd drowned…

Terra gasped and turned away, not wanting to see it any more, but upon turning, her eyes landed on Raven.

"You killed me, traitor!"

Caked mud clung to the dark girl's robe, weighing it down so that it dragged along the ground. More mud poured out of her mouth and her four hollow, empty eye sockets as though it were blood.

Another hand grasped her shoulder and spun her forcefully around, and Terra recoiled at the sight of Robin. How the Boy Wonder was managing to stand, Terra couldn't comprehend, because the bones in his legs were broken so badly the fragments were poking _through_ his skin. Horrible, blue and black bruises covered his body, and a line of blood trickled down the center of his forehead. And the cerulean-blue eyes of Dick Grayson were staring deep into her soul.

"You killed me, Terra!"

Terra backed away, stumbled, got up again, and sprinted away from the horrible sights as fast as she could, her eyes stinging with tears. _What…what's happening?.!.?.!_ she thought in a panic.

"You killed them, Terra…"

Terra's heart nearly stopped right then and there. She knew that cold, mechanical voice all too well.

"…S-Slade…"

And in front of her, horribly, impossibly, Slade strode into view.

"You've done it. You've destroyed the Titans. A fine job…my dear apprentice."

Terra fell to her knees in horror. _It can't be…not here…not him…_

She tore her eyes away from Slade and looked at herself, and suddenly her Titan uniform was gone. In its place was the cold silver armor bearing Slade's insignia.

"N-no…No!" she gasped. Her eyes darted up again, but Slade was gone…and in his place…stood Beast Boy. Perfectly unharmed, on the outside…but never had she seen the changeling so sad.

"Terra…why?" he whispered.

"I…I didn't…I didn't mean for it to happen…" she tried to say.

"You betrayed us, Terra…you betrayed ME…"

Terra was in shock…this wasn't possible, it couldn't be. Beast Boy had told her from the moment she'd awoken how much he still wanted to be her friend…how he'd forgiven her…this wasn't right…

_Don't trust your eyes…_

Raven's reminder suddenly bubbled clear as crystal in the earth maiden's head. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.

"This…isn't…real…this…isn't...real…"

"You killed me…Terra…" Beast Boy's voice haunted her.

"No! You're lying! This isn't real!"

"You killed us, Terra!" came the collective voices of all the Titans.

"NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! THIS…ISN'T…**_REAL!.!.!.!_**"

Her eyes snapped open, and the voices were abruptly gone. The images of the Titans' battered bodies were gone. Slade was gone.

An illusion.

Terra heaved an almighty sob, and for just a few moments, she lay there on the ground, hugged herself…and cried.

* * *


	21. Cy and BB vs Wind and Cyclops

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 20**

A mighty gale whipped mercilessly around the titanium titan as he stood his ground before the Wind Titan. A human eye and a cybernetic eye locked with the great balloon-like eyes of the Wind Titan, and both let out a battle cry as they sped toward one another.

Cyborg transformed his right arm into his sonic cannon and fired a blast of blue and white energy at the creature's midsection.

**_TSSEEEEWWWW!.!.! _**

The Wind Titan was ready. It twisted its funneled body in a very inhuman way so that what should have been a direct hit sailed past it instead. The evil Titan countered by waving an arm at Cyborg.

**_WHOOOOSH!.!.! _**The hurricane-force wind that followed nearly knocked him off his feet as he slid back several meters, titanium feet dragging along the rocky ground with a horrible **_SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!.!.! _**

Cyborg gritted his teeth and ran forward again, pushing against the winds that his opponent was blasting him with. He raised his sonic cannon again and fired, but the Wind Titan bent its wispy body once again and twisted out of the line of fire like a snake. It angled its arms toward the ground and released two more massive gusts of air. **_P-POW!.!.! _**The rock was torn out of the ground by the wind's force, and blown straight at Cyborg.

So focused on his opponent, the first chunk of rock Cyborg did not see coming, and he paid for it when it smashed into his face – **_WHAM!_** – and broke his nose. Blood began to trickle from the wound for a few seconds before his medical systems kicked in and clotted the blood-flow. Cyborg split his attention away from the Wind Titan then and gave more focus to the rest of the rocks that were tumbling his way. He held his titanium forearms up in front of his face, shielding his human parts from the worst of the damage the rocks inflicted; the rest merely bounced harmlessly off his armored body. **_CLING C-CLING CLING!.!.!_** The rocks pounded him, slowing his progress, but he still pressed forward little by little.

Once he was within range of the monster again, Cyborg's shoulder's opened up and unfolded into rocket launchers. Three rockets fired from each shoulder – **_P-P-OW P-P-POW!.!.!_** – and wound their way in two tight spirals toward the Wind Titan. But the monster waved another wispy arm and hit the rockets with bursts of air. Four of the rockets crashed into each other and exploded, but the other two were forced completely around so that they sped back toward their owner.

Cyborg's eyes bulged. "Oh, Sh-"

**_BOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!_**

Cyborg was thrown backward to the ground as the rockets pounded him in the midsection. The flames of the explosion blackened his armor, but the titanium teen was no worse for the wear. He leapt back to his feet, just in time to see the Wind Titan open a massive mouth and take a deep breath…

"Uh-oh…" Cyborg realized what was coming. He had just a split second to grab hold of a rock archway and dig his fingers into it before the Wind Titan exhaled, and winds of ridiculous speeds slammed into the half-robot. Cyborg clung to the arch for dear life, his cybernetic muscles straining to hold against the winds blowing past at what seemed like well over two hundred miles an hour.

_It's gotta run out of breath sometime,_ Cyborg thought to himself, _and the second it does, it's goin' down!_

And just as Cyborg predicted, the Wind Titan's gale breath slowly died a few seconds later. Cyborg released the arch and ran forward, not wanting to give the monster a chance to wind up for another breath. Just as he got back within rocket range, it opened its great mouth again…

"Oh, no you don't!" Cyborg cried out. His shoulders opened again.

**_P-P-POW P-P-POW!.!.! _**A second volley of missiles shot out.

**_P-P-POW P-P-POW!.!.!_** A third.

All twelve rockets quickly found themselves caught in the suction, and before the Wind Titan had a chance to be surprised, it had inhaled the entire dozen.

"Careful what you eat, windbag…" Cyborg said with a smirk.

**_B-B-B-B-B-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!_**

The Wind Titan exploded from the inside out, into billions of wisps of wind that breezed by the teen and faded away into nothingness. When the wind died down, no trace of his opponent remained.

"Some big, bad Titan you turned out to be," Cyborg said over his shoulder as he turned away. He raised his forearm to glance at the display screen on it. "Now to figure out where everyone else…got…to…"

Cyborg trailed off as he stared at the display screen…or rather, the lack thereof. The arm he was staring at, in fact, was not robotic at all. It was…normal…_human_.

"What the…?"

"It's nice, isn't it?" a voice called out.

Cyborg spun around, and his eyes fell on his own most hated enemy.

"Brother Blood…" Cyborg snarled. "How did you get here?"

Blood smiled, ignoring the question. "You like the feeling, don't you? The feel of humanity…of your own flesh and blood…you want that, don't you?"

Cyborg sneered, and jabbed his other arm toward the cult leader. "Look, Blood, I ain't gonna fall for your…" Cyborg trailed off again as he noticed his other arm…it, too, was human. _Truly_ human…he could feel the skin, the blood flowing through it…

"Is this not what you wanted, Cyborg?" Blood asked. "To be yourself again? I can give it to you, Cyborg…"

"Forget it, Blood! I'm happy the way I am. I don't need to be human."

Blood sneered. He turned away from Cyborg. "Very well…if you don't want to be human…"

"…then I shall make you entirely robot."

Blood's voice changed mid-sentence; as Cyborg watched, his hated enemy transformed…and now, the cold, pale face and glowing blue eyes of Fixit were suddenly staring back at him.

"Your imperfect human elements shall be replaced. You will be efficient. You will be perfect. You will be…"

"A robot…" Cyborg finished, looking at his hands again. They were once again cybernetic…his whole body was. He looked out at his surroundings with two red, electronic optics.

"You see, you do not need your imperfect human components. An entirely robotic form is much more preferable. You shall never bleed…never hurt…never die."

For a few long moments Cyborg stared at his hands in silence, as though he were seriously considering Fixit's words. But then Cyborg closed his eyes, took a deep breath…

…and laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

The teen thrust one arm into the air and pointed into the red and black sky. "IS THAT ALL YOU GOT, MALCHIOR?.!.?.! YOU THINK THIS IS SUPPOSED TO SCARE ME?.! YOU THINK THIS INTIMIDATES ME?.! HAH…DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!.!.!"

And when Cyborg looked back down, Fixit was gone, and the titanium teen was himself again.

"Boo-yah…"

* * *

Close up, the Cyclops was a lot bigger than Beast Boy had originally thought. In his elf form, he didn't even came up to the Cyclops' knees. It squinted its one enormous green eye at the changeling and bellowed at him, spraying Beast Boy with a foul odor and flecks of spit from a slobbering tongue and rotten teeth.

Beast Boy shuddered, shielding his face from the raining saliva. "EEEEWW!.!.! Man, ever hear of mouthwash?" he shouted, glancing up at the monster. Almost immediately he averted his eyes and cringed in horror. "EEEEEEEEWWWW!.!.!.!.! AND GET A BIGGER LOINCLOTH!.!.!.!.!"

The Cyclops bellowed again and swung its meaty leg out at the changeling.

**_WHAM!.!.!_** The foot connected with Beast Boy's entire body, booting him a good fifty feet away. He skidded on his rear and flipped over, transformed into a hummingbird in mid-flip, and sped on infinitely beating wings back toward his opponent. As soon as it landed on the unsuspecting Cyclops' shoulder, the hummingbird melted away and grew into a sabre-toothed tiger. The green cat sank its massive front teeth into the Cyclops' pudgy shoulder, and it roared in a pained rage. It twisted its arm around and reached for the changeling, but Beast Boy withdrew, flitting away from the beast as a hummingbird again.

The Cyclops looked around, blinking its one great eye, trying to find the changeling, but he had flown out of sight. It scratched its head stupidly, grunting in confusion. It turned, looking for some sign of the green-skinned shape-shifter…

**_WHAM!_**

A hairy fist flew into the Cyclops' face, forcing it stumbling back a few steps toward the edge of the rocky ledge it stood on. It came within a few short feet of the edge of oblivion before it righted itself. The Cyclops twisted around and glared with one massive eye at the owner of the fist; an enormous, King-Kong-sized gorilla with dark green fur, and foot-long teeth curled into a nasty snarl. 

Both beasts roared at one another and charged forward. Their palms came up and locked together in a grappling position, and the two pushed against one another, their strength surprisingly equal. For what felt like a very long time, Beast Boy grappled with the Cyclops, neither able to overcome the other at first. But gradually the Cyclops' strength began to win out, and Beast Boy, despite his mighty gorilla muscles, was being forced back, pushed down to his knees…

_Uunnhh…good thing I've got a Plan B…_ the changeling thought to himself.

In an instant, the gorilla was gone, replaced with a falcon that swooped away as the now unbalanced Cyclops pitched forward and hit the ground face first. It crawled back to its feet, roaring furiously at the bird flying overhead.

The falcon suddenly became a green pterodactyl, and swooped down at the Cyclops. It raised its meaty palms to snatch the winged creature out of the air, but Beast Boy was flying much too fast to be caught; he raked his prehistoric talons forward as he zoomed by, and in a spurt of blood, the claws punctured the Cyclops' only eye.

This time the monster's roar was more like a shriek; strangled, and warped with pain. It stomped about in a blind agony, one palm covering the bleeding hole that was once his eye and the other swinging about blindly at the changeling.

But Beast Boy was not anywhere near the swinging fist. He'd landed far away, and transformed into a massive emerald woolly mammoth. He jerked his pachyderm head, tusks gleaming, blew a loud trumpet from his snout, and charged. It was slow at first, but quickly gathered speed and momentum as he charged toward his opponent, who was still dangerously close to the sharp edge of the platform…the distance closed…closed…

_**WHAM!**_

Beast Boy body-slammed into the blinded Cyclops, and the momentum was more than enough to send the monster stumbling that last few critical feet. It teetered comically on the edge for just a moment…and then, with one final roar of fury and pain, it tumbled over the edge, and fell into the red and black oblivion below.

Beast Boy resumed his elf form, grinning as he began to dance about. "Go Beast Boy! Go Beast Boy! It's ya birthday! It's ya birthday! HAH!"

Finished with his dance, the changeling glanced back the way he'd come, but for some reason he could no longer see the others off in the distance. Had they really ended up that far apart…?

"Hmm…better go and find them…" he muttered to himself. He stretched his arms out and ran toward the opposite edge, preparing to transform into a falcon…

"Beast Boy, where are you going?"

The changeling jerked to a halt. "Terra?" he said, recognizing the voice, but at the same time realizing it sounded different…older, somehow…

He turned around toward her voice, and somehow he was suddenly no longer in Raven's mindscape, but back in Titans Tower. More specifically, he was standing in Terra's room, next to her bed. And sitting up IN the bed, smiling at him, was Terra.

She didn't just sound older, Beast Boy realized; she _looked_ older as well. She was taller…more curvy. Her hair was longer, too. She continued to look at him lovingly, holding the bed-sheet around herself just below her shoulders, and was angled toward the changeling in such a way that she just barely exposed to him the smooth, tanned skin of her back.

Beast Boy's eyes couldn't help but bug out at the fact that the Terra before him was very obviously nude, and if the bulge beneath the bed-sheet was any indication, her chest had definitely grown a considerable amount. But even these revelations were nothing compared to the look in Terra's sparkling, sky-blue eyes as the bed-sheet slipped down an inch.

"Beast Boy, please don't leave…come back to bed…" she cooed. The bed-sheet lowered another suggestive inch, and the top of her bust line was now just visible.

To his credit, the changeling managed to tear his eyes away from the woman of his dreams nude before him; but his eyes fell instead on a mirror, and now, as he looked at his own reflection, he saw that Terra wasn't the only one who'd changed. He looked older as well. His hair was longer…more untamed. His physique was noticeably more muscular…not obscenely so, but definitely an improvement, he thought. The muscles stretched the material of his black and purple uniform almost to the point of tearing it open. He'd grown taller, too. All in all, the changeling thought, he looked…handsome.

He saw in the mirror's reflection just then that Terra had walked up directly behind him, and her face was smiling at him from over his shoulder. Her bare arms came up and wrapped gently around Beast Boy's shoulders, her fingers lightly stroking the top of his chest, and the changeling almost melted on the spot. Her touch was so…perfect…

When her arms drew a little tighter around him and the space between their bodies became nonexistent, Beast Boy suddenly became very aware that the bed-sheet had been left behind as two bulges of flesh pressed against his upper back, and he was now wondering how his heart hadn't burst out of his chest, it was beating so fast…

_Oh man…those are…those are her…oh man, oh man…_ his brain rambled.

"Come on, Beast Boy…don't stand there and stare at yourself all day…come to bed…" Terra whispered in his ear. Her embrace tightened, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to ignore the soft bulges of her chest pressing almost eagerly against him.

_Is this…is this real?_ the changeling wondered. _It…it **feels** real…but at same time, it doesn't…how did I get older? How did **Terra** get older? What if this is all fake?_

And then, another voice inside of him spoke up. _'Does it really matter? Look at what you have…you are happy here…you have the love of a beautiful girl…you are one with her, forever…what does it matter if it is real or not?'_

_No…that's not right…I want the real Terra…the Terra **I** know!_ he argued.

_'But this Terra is better…just look at her…'_

Beast Boy couldn't help but turn around, and gaze at the Terra before him in full glory. Every inch of her was perfect. Silky skin. Slender legs. Curved hips. Delicate hands. Long golden hair hanging down her head, just barely concealing her breasts…

"Te…Ter…" Beast Boy stuttered; Terra placed two fingers over his lips to silence him, stepped forward, and kissed him full on the mouth.

The sensation was incredible…it was electrifying…addictive, even. She kissed him hungrily, her hands roaming across his back, which was suddenly and mysteriously bare. It was the most amazing feeling Beast Boy had ever known…but there was something wrong, still…something missing…

_No…_ Beast Boy thought to himself. _No, this isn't right…this isn't the way it's supposed to be! _

'_Beast Boy…it's what you wanted, isn't it? You want **her**…'_ the other voice said.

The kiss deepened, and Terra pulled Beast Boy forward until he was squeezed up against her naked body…

_**NO!.!.!**_ Beast Boy shouted in his head, finally resisting. He pulled back from the kiss and backed away from the image of Terra, squeezing his eyes shut. _I know what this is now! This is what Raven warned us about! You're messing with my head!_

'_Dear Beast Boy…she desires you…you desire her…I have simply…made some…improvements…'_

_You think you can just give her boobs and call that an improvement?.!.?.!_ Beast Boy screamed inside his head. _You don't know anything, Malchior! I love Terra! The REAL Terra! And there's no way I'm going to give in to this…this…PUPPET of her you've created! I won't be suckered in like this, you hear me?.! Go pester someone else, and LEAVE ME **ALONE!.!.!.!**_

The changeling opened his eyes, and to his supreme relief, the fake Terra, and the bedroom, were both gone, and he himself was normal again. He was still in the mindscape…and now, off in the distance he could see his friends…engaged in their various battles…

Cyborg facing a living tornado…

Robin and Starfire facing the polar opposites of Fire and Ice…

Raven battling the demon dragon…

And Terra, a small golden glow silhouetted against the massive Earth Titan…

For a brief moment the image of Terra that Malchior had constructed bubbled forward in his mind…and the changeling repressed it quickly. That wasn't Terra, he told himself. The Terra he knew…the Terra he loved…she was the one out there, fighting…

"And it's about time I get back to it, too," he finished his thoughts aloud. In a flash Beast Boy was a green falcon, and he soared back into the fray.

* * *


	22. Robin vs Ice, Star vs Fire

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 21**

"HAH!"

**_C-CRACK!.!.! _**

Robin hurled his body sideways, just barely managing to dodge the spear of ice his towering opponent had hurled. It sailed past him and struck the ground instead, shattering on impact.

Robin landed on one outstretched palm, tensed, and pushed off the ground with the same hand; the Boy Wonder back-flipped up and away milliseconds before another spear crashed into the spot where his hand had been. Robin fell into a pattern of back-flips, dodging spear after icy spear, until he'd flipped all they way under the Ice Titan's guard.

Robin whipped out a grappling hook and fired it straight up.

**_POW!_** Up and up the hook sailed, taking the full length of the cord just to reach the monster's shoulder and wrap once around its armpit. Robin triggered the retract switch, tightened his grip on the handle, and reeled himself up into the air, hoping to reach the monster's face. But before he was so much as halfway there, a spindly, icy hand and wicked claws snatched Robin around the legs, holding him in place.

The chill was instantaneous. It felt as though his legs had been dunked in a pool of ice water. He was sure they'd freeze off if he remained stuck there for more than a minute. Abandoning his grappling hook, Robin dug into his utility belt and pulled out a thermal birdarang. He tossed it into the Ice Titan's wrist, where it promptly unleashed a blast of thermal energy.

**_BOOM!.!.! _**The heat melted the joint almost immediately, and the hand the clutched Robin's legs went limp and fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand little pieces.

The Boy Wonder sprang off the falling hand, birdarangs in each hand, and dug them into the Ice Titan's torso as he fell. **_CH-CHINK!.!.! _**They slowed his fall gradually until he came to a complete halt just above the monster's leg joint. The Ice Titan swiped at Robin with its remaining palm, but he let go of the birdarangs, fell beneath the swipe, and instead wrapped his limbs around one of the monster's thin, freezing cold legs and slid down it like a fire-pole.

_Hmm…this feels strangely familiar…_ the Boy Wonder thought to himself.

The Ice Titan kicked out with the leg Robin was sliding down, throwing him off entirely and sending him crashing to the ground nearly a hundred feet away. Robin shook it off quickly and leapt to his feet, ready for anything.

The Ice Titan reared its head back and blew a breath of freezing wind down toward the Boy Wonder, who ran to the side to dodge it, but not quickly enough. The tail of his cape caught the edges of the blast, leaving Robin with a large and uncomfortable lump of extra weight in the form of ice encasing the bottom of the garment. He whipped his bo-staff out and hacked at the ice, trying to chip it off, but to no avail. He pulled a birdarang out as well, but achieved the same result. The frozen crystal wouldn't break easily, and as the Ice Titan raised its one remaining hand to hurl another ice spear at him, Robin knew there was no way he could dodge it with the ice weighing him down. Which left him with just one option.

The Ice Titan hurled the spear, and Robin stood his ground, bo-staff in hand. It flew straight for the Boy Wonder's head at almost a hundred miles an hour, like a pitcher hurling a fastball.

_The perfect analogy,_ Robin thought, grinning.

At the last second the Boy Wonder swung his bo-staff forward in a massive arc.

**_CRACCKKKK!.!.!_** The staff slammed head-on into the icy projectile. But instead of shattering, the spear was deflected right back toward its owner, arcing higher and higher, until…

**_WHAM!_** The spear smacked right into the Ice Titans face.

The Titan uttered a very dragon-like shriek of pain and clutched its face with its one good hand, a far greater effect than the Boy wonder had expected. But it was a most welcome surprise, Robin thought with another grin. Now he knew the monster's weakness.

The Ice Titan recovered quickly enough, narrowed its eyes at Robin, and growled. It snorted a puff of frozen mist, and then, to Robin's surprise, the monster fired off not one, but a whole line of nearly a dozen ice spears, one after another.

Robin grinned. _Malchior can say whatever he wants about how powerful these things are…but they sure as hell aren't too bright…_

All in a row, Robin swung his staff at the spears. **_CRACK C-CRACK CRACK!.!.! _**One by one he smacked them back toward their owner. One by one they arced around and up, and slammed into the monster's face, drawing screams of agony from it that would have been deafening to the Boy Wonder, had the monster's head not been higher up in the air than the tallest buildings in Jump City.

As the last one crashed into the Ice Titan's dragon-like face, it looked like it had reached the end of its rope; it fell to its knees, its roar more like a groan now, and pitched forward until it was leaning on its one good hand and apparently gasping for breath.

Robin smirked. The head was right in front of him. The perfect target.

He whipped out the biggest explosive he carried – the same kind he'd used on the Earth Titan the previous day – leapt up, and slapped it right onto the creature's frozen forehead. The Ice Titan dragged itself to its feet and clawed at the explosive with its remaining hand, but the explosive was stuck on its head firmly. And a second later…

**_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!.!.!.!.!.!_**

The bomb went off with a mighty explosion that engulfed the Ice Titan's head and upper torso. Robin saw the monster's limbs suddenly hang limp, and once the fire and smoke cleared, he saw that the monster's head and upper torso had been completely destroyed. All that was left of it was a frozen body, which pitched forward, hit the ground, and shattered into a billion shards of ice.

"You call yourself a Titan?" Robin chuckled. "Bit of advice. Don't quit your day job."

Robin turned away and began to head back toward where he knew Malchior and Raven must be…but for some reason he could not see them any more. In fact, he realized as he looked around, he couldn't see _anyone_ anymore aside from himself. The whole mindscape was rapidly going dark. Before long the Boy Wonder couldn't see a foot in front of him, or even the ground he stood on.

_Don't trust your eyes..._

Raven's warning bubbled immediately into Robin's mind. Immediately he was on guard, ready to ignore anything that met his eyes…

**_THWACK!_**

Something slammed into the back of Robin's head, hurling him to the ground that he couldn't see. He scrambled back to his feet and looked around for his attacker, but nothing could be seen in the darkness that engulfed him…

**_THWACK!_**

Again, something struck Robin from behind, and he pitched forward again. He righted himself again and snapped his head in a wild circle, hoping to get even a glimmer of the mystery attacker, but there was nothing. He couldn't see his own hand in front of his face, much less whatever was hitting him.

**_WHU-WHUMP!_**

Two blows slammed into Robin's stomach and chin in rapid succession, simultaneously knocking the wind out of him and snapping his head back. Gasping for breath, he looked around again, beginning to panic. What was hitting him?

_Focus, Dick…_ the Boy Wonder told himself, breathing deep. _Remember your training with the true master…extend your senses beyond sight…beyond sound…feel your opponent…_

**_WHACK!_**

Even with his senses extended, the hit came from nowhere, knocking his legs out from under him so that he landed painfully on his rear.

"Uunnhh…who…are you?.!" Robin demanded of the darkness.

A cold, familiar laughter reached his ears. "It scares you, doesn't it? Not knowing what you're facing?"

Robin knew that voice all too well. "Slade!"

**_WHAM!_**

Something blunt slammed into Robin's chest, and his breath left him in a sharp burst.

"You and your former partner…you always pride yourselves in being ready for anything…" Slade's voice continued. "You tell yourself you're just being well-prepared…but I know the truth. It's because you fear the unknown, little boy. The very idea of going into battle with no idea what you're facing terrifies you…"

"I'm not afraid of YOU, Slade!" Robin shouted.

"Touching. But it's not me you should fear, Robin. It is the darkness. The everlasting, eternal darkness. It engulfs you. It ensnares you. _Consumes _you. And that terrifies you, Robin. You fear the darkness of the unknown…"

Robin breathed deep, exhaled…and allowed a small grin to cross his face. Suddenly, he understood.

"I'm not afraid of cheap tricks and mind games, Slade…not yours…nor Malchior's!"

And in the blink of an eye a flash bomb was in Robin's hand. He pitched it into the air, and it exploded with a brilliant light.

**_FLASH! _**The darkness was gone in a heartbeat. And there was no sign of Slade.

Robin's grin broadened. "You think your mind games can affect me, Malchior? Hah…compared to Bruce, you're an amateur…"

A green streak dropped out of the air just then and slid to a stop beside the Boy Wonder. "Hey, Robin! Need a ride, dude?"

"Yeah, thanks," Robin said. "Have any trouble, Beast Boy?"

"…Not with the Cyclops, no," the changeling said evasively.

Robin caught on easily enough. "Malchior's mind games. He messed with your head, didn't he?"

"I'd…rather not talk about it. The point is that I beat it, right? That's the only thing that matters, y'know?"

"Fair enough," Robin agreed. "Now let's go take that dragon out once and for all!"

In a flash, Beast Boy was a pterodactyl, Robin was on his back, and the two were flying top-speed toward Raven and Malchior. It was time to end it…for good.

* * *

It was like looking at a living chunk of a planet's molten core, Starfire thought as she stared at the Titan of Fire. It literally looked as though it had come straight from the center of the Earth. Magma oozed slowly from its gooey mouth like drool; its skin was red and black like a volcano; its eyes were blobby and glowed like fire; its arms were almost as fat as its body, and dripping with molten goo; and it seemed to lack legs entirely, opting instead to ooze across the ground and leave a trail of scorched terrain behind it. 

Starfire was choosing, wisely, to keep to the air. The Fire Titan was slow, and grounded – an easy target for someone who could both fly and attack from a distance.

In theory, anyway.

Flashes of green flared to life in her hands and eyes, and with a Tamaranian battle cry she fired a pair of criss-crossing star-bolts down at the Fire Titan's molten blob of a body.

**_POW- -SPLORCH! _**The burst of green shone against the black and red of the monster's skin as the bolts hit their target, but the Titan's gooey body merely absorbed the energy, covering the star-bolts in folds of molten skin until their glow was gone. A second later the Fire Titan turned its mouth skyward. **_SHOOOOM!.!.!_** The creature spat the same star-bolts, now drenched in flaming magma, right back at the alien girl at obscene speeds.

"EEP!" she squeaked. She twisted sideways and the regurgitated bolts whizzed past her, so close the she could feel their heat. The Fire Titan then gathered more molten bits of itself into its stubby arms and hurled the fireballs at Starfire.

She twisted and dodged in the air, avoiding the attacks easily. She swooped down near the monster and fired a stream of star-bolt energy from her eyes.

**_ZZZZHHHTTT!.!.!_** The beams raked across its body, but did no visible damage. It swiped a short limb at her as she passed, but it grasped nothing but air, she was flying by too quickly. Starfire twisted around as she passed and hurled two more star-bolts at her opponent. It opened its mouth wide, caught them in the gaping maw, and spit them back at her once again, dripping with molten goo.

Starfire dashed straight up into the air and dodged the fireballs as they sizzled the air around her. She was fast realizing that her star-bolts would only be used against her if she continued to fire them. The beams from her eyes were still usable, but if her last attack was any indication, she wasn't going to be causing much damage with them, if any at all. At least, she wouldn't be with a direct attack…

Starfire gathered her energy, directing her emotions, her righteous fury, into her star-bolt energy. They glowed bright around her hands and eyes, until she'd put so much energy into both that the glow spread across her whole upper body. She dove down again, straight for the Fire Titan at breakneck speed. The monster threw molten blobs of its body at her with impressive accuracy as she advanced, but the energy radiating from her body knocked them away almost effortlessly. She sped onward, faster and faster…she was a hundred feet away…fifty feet…twenty-five…ten…

**_POWWWW!.!.!_**

Starfire slammed into the front of the Fire Titan's blob of a body, plowed _through_ the monster, and exploded out its back. It was a feat that should have melted the skin from her bones…but the star-bolt energy protected her. She flung the energy away from her body, and the scalding magma along with it, perfectly unharmed. She turned back toward the Titan, and saw the gaping, dripping hole she had left…but the monster didn't seem much affected. Its body seemed to pull together, filling in the hole, and in a matter of moments the hole was gone entirely.

She stared at the monster in shock for a second too long; its stubby arm stretched and shot out at her, hand curled into a fist that struck her across the face with a burning pain. She fell to the ground roughly, rubbing the fresh, scorched wound across her cheek.

"I should've known you'd screw it up."

Starfire's ears tweaked at the voice…it was familiar…friendly…but at the same time, cold. Harsh. Disappointed, even…

She turned toward the voice, the Fire Titan temporarily forgotten, and impossibly, her eyes fell on Robin. He was turned away from her, his head down. His costume was slightly tattered, but otherwise he seemed all right. Physically, anyway…

"Robin? I…I thought I heard your voice…" Starfire said.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to beat that thing by yourself…" Robin muttered. "I should've expected you to be too weak to win…"

"Wh…what?" Starfire gasped. This sensation was all too familiar. It had happened once before that Robin had suddenly become cold and hurtful toward her…but that had been under the influence of a mind control device. This time…this time is seemed so much more real…

"Robin…I-I am sorry…but I am not defeated yet…I can still achieve vict-"

"Don't bother," Robin cut her off. "You can't beat it. You don't have a hope."

"R-Robin…" Starfire whispered. "W-why are you…"

"But I guess it's partly my fault," Robin interrupted again, turning to glare at her. "I should have known I couldn't trust you to succeed. I should have known I couldn't expert much of anything from a stupid _Troq_."

It was as though a bolt of lightning had torn through the alien girl. It was impossible. Robin wouldn't, she told herself. He would not tell her she was weak, or untrustworthy…and he would _never_…**_ever_** call her _that_ name…not Robin…

And then it hit her.

Starfire glared. "You…you are NOT Robin!" she growled, eyes glowing. "You are a falsification of Robin created by Malchior to fool and deceive me!"

"You think this is a game, Starfire?.!" Robin shouted. "You think I'm kidding here?.! I was trusting you to fight that monster and beat it, and you couldn't even do that!"

"YOU ARE NOT ROBIN!" she screamed at the image. "AND I WILL NOT BE FOOLED BY THIS FABRICATION ANY LONGER! BE GONE, ILLUSION!"

Starfire's eyes flared green, a star-blot flashing into existence in her palm. She raised it over her head…

"Gonna kill your boyfriend, are you?" the image taunted.

"YOU ARE _**NOT**_ MY BOYFRIEND!.!.!"

**_FLASH!.!.!_**

The bolt struck the fake Robin, and the image was gone in an instant. But from behind the fading illusion, the Fire Titan suddenly loomed over her in its place, fireballs in hand.

Starfire turned her furious gaze on the Titan. "I am NOT weak!" she shouted. Star-bolt energy encased her whole body once again, gathering in a massive ball in her hands.

The Fire Titan roared at her, and flung the fireballs just as Starfire let out her Tamaranian battle cry and fired her own massive star-bolt. The two forces clashed for just a brief moment before Starfire's attack easily engulfed the fireballs, and a second later, the Fire Titan itself. Its whole body was encased in the giant, pulsing star-bolt, which radiated with a heat rivaling even that of the Titan it imprisoned.

Starfire's eyes glowed. "Return to the molten Earth from which you came!.!.!"

Her eyes fired streams of green into the oversized star-bolt…

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!**_

The star-bolt – and the Fire Titan along with it – exploded in a brilliant rainbow of green, red, yellow and orange, and when it faded, the Fire Titan was no more.

"I…am victorious…" Starfire whispered.

"Hey! Star!" a deep male voice called.

Starfire turned, hands and eyes glowing and ready for more trouble, but relaxed almost instantly. "Cyborg! Terra!"

Riding on a slab of rock were the two titans, bearing down on the alien girl.

"Smooth moves there, girl!" Cyborg said. "Ah…you all right? You look a little tense," he added, noticing her hard expression.

"I am…fine," Starfire said. "Nothing is wrong."

"Malchior's illusions got to you…" Terra said quietly, not looking at her.

Starfire spun toward Terra, surprised. "How did you…?" she began, but stopped as she saw the similarly downcast look on Terra's face, and suddenly understood. "Malchior…he has affected you as well?"

Terra said nothing; she only sniffled slightly and refused to look Starfire in the eyes.

"Malchior affected all of us," Cyborg said. "But we're alive, and we're in one piece. That's all that matters. Right?"

"…R-right," Terra said with a nod.

"Agreed," Starfire added. "Have…you seen Robin?"

Cyborg glanced at his wrist panel. "Him and BB are headed toward Raven and Malchior now. We'd better do the same."

"Yes. Let us put an end to that monstrous being," Starfire said.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Terra added, a hard look coming to her eyes. With simultaneous flares of green and gold, the three teens were speeding toward Malchior, Raven, and their final confrontation…

* * *

Author's note: Special thanks to SocialButterfli, and the fact that yesterday was laundry day, or else this would have taken a lot longer. Heh... 


	23. The Final Push

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Chapter 22**

Malchior was no longer quite as confident as he'd been twenty minutes ago.

He'd been battling Raven to a stalemate the entire time, neither able to best the other. It seemed that within her own mind, Raven's power was stronger…more formidable. No matter what magic he threw at her, no matter how hot the fire he breathed down at her, she was not defeated. Of course, he too was not beaten by any of the attacks Raven used on him…but it was nonetheless infuriating that he was not crushing her under his clawed feet. He possessed her demon essence…the core of her power…and yet, without it, Raven actually seemed stronger than ever. It was as though her demon side had in fact been holding her back, rather than feeding her power; and without it, she could unleash more untold strength than ever before.

"HAH!"

Raven's shout snapped the dragon back into focus just in time to swat away the slab of rock hurled by the girl's telekinesis. Malchior glared at his opponent, who was once again dressed in solid white.

"**_YOUR CONTINUED RESISTANCE IS BEGINNING TO GET ON MY NERVES, GIRL! GIVE UP THIS FOOL'S GAME BEFORE YOU ARE DESTROYED!_**"

"Never!" Raven hissed. "If it takes me all day, I will put an end to this nightmare of yours! AZARATH, METRION, **_ZINTHOS!.!.!_**"

"**_NECRONOM, HEZBEREK, MORTIX!.!.!_**" the dragon screeched in response.

Twin bolts of lightning – Raven's white and Malchior's red – sailed through the air and collided, forming a strange pinkish light as they mixed before their combined explosions threw both fighters backward a few steps.

Malchior recovered first. "**_RRAAAAUUGH!.!.! YOU HAVE IRKED ME FOR FAR TOO LONG, CHILD!.!.! I PROMISE, WILL DEEPLY ENJOY WATCHING THE TITANS RUIN YOUR WORLD AND EVERYTHING YOU CARE ABOUT…AFTER THEY RUIN YOUR PATHETIC FRIENDS FIRST!.!.!_**"

"Your Titans aren't going to ruin anyone!" Raven shouted back. "My friends will succeed! We WILL stop you!"

"**_YOUR FRIENDS WILL FALL!.!.!.!.!_**" Malchior bellowed. "**_AND SO WILL YOU!.!.!.!.!_**"

Malchior reared his head back and belched forth a literal wall of flames, so expansive that Raven had no hope of dodging it.

Blocking, however, was very much within her ability.

Quick as a flash she waved her hands around her body, and a solid white dome of telekinetic energy encased Raven, shielding her as the deadly flames rolled harmlessly off the magic bubble. The flames passed quickly, and as soon as they had, Raven removed herself from the bubble and fired it at Malchior. The burst of telekinetic energy smacked the dragon across the face, drawing a pained roar from him.

"You're slipping, Malchior," Raven sneered. "Face it; you've lost!"

Malchior glared back. "**_I HAVE LOST NOTHING, GIRL…BUT I PROMISE…VERY SOON, YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING…_**"

Malchior's four demonic eyes flashed red, and for some reason Raven could not look away. The stare seemed to paralyze her body, holding her rigid, unblinking. She couldn't move a single muscle even a fraction of an inch.

Then Malchior's eyes flashed again, and Raven's world went black. Her eyes had been blinded by…something, Raven couldn't tell what. She felt herself fall backward and hit the ground, still rigid as a statue. The last thought she had before losing consciousness completely was something about being left vulnerable…and even that broken thought faded as darkness overtook her.

How long she was out for, she didn't know. It could've been a few seconds, a few minutes…a few hours, even, though she doubted the latter. She was still in the mindscape, she saw as she opened her eyes…

It took a second to realize that she even _could_ open her eyes, and once she did she also realized she was no longer paralyzed. She leapt to her feet and glared and Malchior, who still stood in the same place he'd been before. "What did you do to me?.!" She demanded.

"**_HA-HA-HA-HA-HA…BACK FROM YOUR NAP, ARE YOU? HA-HA-HA-HA…AND JUST IN TIME…MY FELLOWS HAVE BROUGHT YOU A GIFT…OR RATHER, FIVE GIFTS…_**"

Malchior gestured behind Raven with one clawed front leg. The dark girl spun, and to her utter horror, the five monstrous Titans that Malchior had summoned stood over her. And each one held a familiar figure limp in one hand.

Raven gasped. "N-no…"

Terra.

Robin.

Starfire.

Beast Boy.

Cyborg.

All of them, battered, broken, bruised, and bloody.

"NO!" Raven cried out.

The Greek Titans opened their palms and let the teens fall from their grasp. Raven's heart leapt into her throat and almost automatically her body leapt into action. White lightning shot from her fingertips and caught her friends' falling bodies in midair. She drew the five of them to her and laid them carefully on the ground, and upon closer examination, she saw the damage was even worse than she had first assumed.

Terra's body was covered in bruises, and one arm and one leg appeared broken so badly that the bone was poking through the torn skin. Beast Boy looked much the same; heavily bruised, bleeding in a few places, and likely some broken bones. Cyborg's metallic armor was dented, wires and circuitry hung limp and dead from exposed panels, and his usual blue glow had faded to black, while his human parts were torn and scraped into a bloody mess. Robin looked like someone who'd been lost on a mountaintop; his skin was pale blue, his uniform covered in frost, and some of his fingers had frozen through so completely that they'd broken off. And Starfire…Starfire seemed the worst of all of them. Her silky-smooth hair had been mostly burned away, intense flames had blackened almost every inch of her once-perfect skin, and the smell of burning flesh infested Raven's senses the moment she got close.

Raven couldn't even bear to look any longer, much less check for a pulse in any of them…for they were all very clearly dead.

"I…I can't…this…by Azar, no…" she whispered to herself. "Not them…not like this…they didn't deserve this…I never should've let them get involved…"

"**_BUT YOU DID LET THEM GET INVOLVED IN THIS, RAVEN,_**" Malchior taunted. "**_YOU BROUGHT THEM INTO THIS MIDSCAPE OF YOURS, TO FIGHT A HOPELESS FIGHT AGAINST MY TITANS…YOU SENT THEM TO BATTLE THE GREATEST BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE…YOU ARE AS MUCH RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR DEATHS AS MY TITANS ARE…_**"

Raven hugged herself, shivering. Even without Malchior's taunts ringing in her ears, the guilt of her friends' deaths was slamming onto her conscience like two-ton weights.

_It's my fault…_ Raven wept to herself. _Just like the citizens the Earth Titan killed…it's my fault…they died…they ALL died…because of me…_

"**_NOW, SWEET RAVEN…_**" Malchior hissed, looming over her. "**_I SHALL PUT AN END TO YOU, AS WELL!.!.!_**"

He reared back his head, drawing breath for another wall of fire, and Raven could not muster the willpower to form a defense. She was spiritually broken…the only friends she'd ever had lay dead before her…and in that moment, she almost abandoned all hope…

"**_DIE!.!.!.!.!_**" Malchior shrieked as he unleashed the fire. It rolled toward her in a massive wall, impossible for her to protect herself from…

And then, incredibly, miraculously, the ground in front of her sprang straight up, forming a thick wall ten feet high, shielding Raven from the attack.

"Wh-what…?" the empath gasped. She dared a glance behind her, toward the mangled bodies of her friends…and they were still lying there in a broken heap. But at the same time they were standing right behind Raven, faces set and determined; and Terra was holding her hands out, glowing pale gold, at the wall protecting them from Malchior's dragon-fire.

"Raven? You okay?" Terra asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

"I…you…but you're…it can't-" Raven whispered, her eyes darting back and forth between the titans that stood alive and well around her and the titans that lay dead just beyond…and suddenly she cut herself off as the obvious truth struck her.

_An illusion…he showed me an illusion of my friends dead…and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker…_

The flames faded, and Terra's rock shield fell away, revealing to Malchior the six titans, alive and in the flesh.

Malchior screeched in horror and fury. "**_NOOO!.!.!.!.! THIS…THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!.!.!.! MY TITANS WERE INVINCIBLE!.!.!.! CHILDREN LIKE YOU HAD NO CHANCE!.!.!.! NO CHANCE AT ALL OF DEFEATING THEM!.!.!.! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!.!.!.!_**"

"Better double-check your odds, Malchior," Robin said with a smirk. "The Teen Titans have a knack for doing the impossible. Titans, GO!"

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy leapt into action against Malchior, but Terra hung back, crouching beside Raven's huddled figure.

"Raven? Are you all right?" the earth maiden probed.

Raven shivered. "It…it seemed so…so _real_…"

Terra understood. "Malchior's illusions got to you."

Raven shivered again.

"Don't worry," Terra said. "You aren't the only one. Take a minute to recover, okay? We'll deal with Malchior."

Terra stood up, and a circle of rock beneath her broke away and lifted her up to join the battle, leaving Raven to recover.

The earth maiden swooped in front of Malchior's serpentine head, drawing his attention. The dragon spouted a jet of flames at Terra, who easily swerved out of the way. She drifted sideways, drawing Malchior's eyesight away from his flank. Starfire took the opening; she flew through his blind spot at high speed, fist cocked, and plowed it into the side of Malchior's head as hard as her Tamaranian strength could muster. His snakelike neck twisted almost a full one-eighty from the impact, before it coiled back like a spring; his head streaked toward Starfire, gnashing his foot-long teeth.

"EEP!" she squeaked, and flew backward quickly, removing herself from the range of his deadly jaws.

Cyborg joined the fray, firing his fist out at Malchior and trailing a thick cord behind it. The projectile limb wrapped around the dragon's neck, and Cyborg reeled himself in until he was gripping Malchior's rough, scaly dragon flesh. He twisted around and opened his shoulder missile pods, preparing to blast a hole through the dragon's hide like last time, but Cyborg heard nothing but a dull _click_ sound when he tried. He'd emptied his rockets on the Wind Titan.

"Oh dang…" Cyborg muttered. A second later Malchior whipped his neck around, hurling Cyborg off of him and toward the edge of oblivion before Terra caught him on her rock platform.

Beast Boy sped under Malchior's guard as a cheetah, finding himself facing the dragon's soft underbelly. He leapt up and sank his teeth and claws into the unguarded flesh, and clung there until Malchior reared up and clawed at the changeling with his front legs. Beast Boy sprang off, morphing to a bird in mid-air and flew to safety.

"Star, get me up to his head!" Robin shouted. The alien girl complied, snatching Robin's outstretched forearm and hauling him into the air. With his free hand Robin pulled an ice bomb from his utility belt, took careful aim as Star flew near the dragon's head once again, and pitched the capsule of liquid nitrogen straight at Malchior's eyes. It exploded with perfect accuracy across the dragon's face, encasing his eyes with a sheet of ice.

Malchior shrieked and swung his tail blindly forward. He managed to get lucky and smack Robin and Starfire, but fortunately for the two titans it was merely a glancing blow. They spun about in mid-air for a few moments before Starfire righted them, and set Robin gently back on the ground.

Terra flew in from behind, pelting Malchior with jagged rocks as he thrashed his claws and tail, roaring in pain from his frozen eyes and the stinging projectiles. Again, to his luck, the thrashing tail just so happened to hit one of the titans – Terra this time, and much more directly – and hurl her several hundred feet away.

"**_RRRAAAAAAAAUUUGH!.!.!.!.!_**" Malchior screamed. Four spots of red glowed behind the sheet of ice over his serpent face, and exploded outward in sharp beams. Four smoking holes had been punched straight through the ice, freeing the villain's eyesight. He glared down at the titans, minus Terra and Raven, and roared again.

"**_INSOLENT LITTLE CHILDREN! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU! BE GONE FROM THIS PLACE! NECRONOM, HEZBEREK, MORTIX!.!.!_**"

A wave of purple and red energy blasted from the demon-dragon's eyes, washing over the four titans and engulfing them completely. And it was at that moment that Terra swooped back into the fray.

"NO!" she shrieked, flying down to aid her friends, but before she came so much as fifty feet from them, the light engulfing them vanished…and so did her friends.

A strangled gasp escaped her lips before she rounded on Malchior, eyes blazing with gold fury. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?.!.?.!"

"**_THE SAME THING I AM ABOUT TO DO TO YOU!.!.!_**" Malchior roared in response.

A glow of red and purple fired from Malchior's eyes again, threatening to envelop Terra in its light and do to her whatever it had done to her friends. She raised her hands in front of her face, knowing it could do no good…

**_FLASH!_**

A blur of white surrounded the Earth maiden, shielding her from Malchior's ray. As both lights faded, Terra turned to the source of the white…and brightened.

"Raven!"

Indeed, the empath had returned, white light fading slowly from her eyes.

"Raven…you saved me…" Terra said.

"I owed you one," Raven answered.

"**_ENOUGH OF THIS!.!.!.!.!_**" Malchior interrupted. "**_WHY CAN'T YOU BE GOOD LITTLE CHILDREN AND DIE?.!.?.!_**"

Flames rolled again, hotter and more intense than ever. Raven only just managed to get a shield up between the girls and the flames, and the impact blew both girls back against the ground, hard.

"Uunnhh…" Raven moaned. "This isn't good…"

"Tell me about it," Terra agreed. "What…what was that weird light? What did he do to our friends?"

"It's another of the spells he taught me," Raven explained. "He essentially expelled the others from my mindscape and put them back in their own bodies; they're alive, but unconscious…they can't help us anymore."

"So you mean…?"

"Yeah…" Raven said. "It's just you and me, kid."

Terra gulped. "H-how can we beat this thing all by ourselves?"

"I have no idea."

Another volley of Malchior's flames launched at the girls, hotter and fiercer still than the previous blast. Raven's shield was even less able to protect them this time, and the girls were thrown even further back. They landed painfully, bits of skin scraped bloody.

"We can't keep this up…" Raven said. "Malchior's power is actually _growing_…his anger is feeding my demon side and making him stronger…we don't have a hope of standing up to him if he can tap into the full power of my demon side."

"Then…then we have to get it out of him, right?" Terra said. "We have to get the demon thing, the Red side, out of him and back into you, right?"

"Problem is, I don't see how," Raven muttered, "unless…"

The empath froze up, eyes wide. _No…it can't…_

Terra stared. "Unless what? Do you have an idea for how to split them up?"

_No…I just can't…_ Raven murmured to herself. _It's way too risky…I couldn't ask her to…there has to be another way…_

"Raven, talk to me! If you have an idea, now would be a very good time to share it!"

Raven glanced at Terra, and at the great red form of Malchior, and shivered. "There…there is a way…but I can't, it's too risky, I don't want-"

"Raven, think about it!" Terra cut her off. "Look, we're pretty much out of options here. If you think this even has the slightest chance of working, we have to try it, or else we're gonna be dragon food! Now what's the plan?.!"

Raven hesitated for a moment, sighed, and spoke. "There is a spell…one that can remove the demon essence from Malchior and return it to my body…like an exorcism. It's not a process Malchior is likely to survive, either. And even if he does, I can deal with him once he's on his own again. But…"

"But what?" Terra probed.

"…I need…someone…to help me cast the spell."

"Huh?"

"I don't…have enough power to do it myself," Raven admitted. "I need…something more."

"Well, you've still got me! I can give you all the power you need!"

"It's not that simple, Terra!" Raven snapped. "It…it's dangerous. I don't know how much power it might take, especially with how strong Malchior's resistance is sure to be…if I take too much energy from your body, Terra…I…I might…"

Raven trailed off there, but Terra understood loud and clear.

"It might kill me," the earth maiden said softly.

Raven nodded.

"………Do it."

Raven spun to face her, wide-eyed. "Terra, I…"

"You have to!" Terra stopped her. "There's no other way, right? If we don't stop him he's going to destroy the whole damn world! My life's not worth that! You have to do it, Raven!"

"I'm not going to be responsible for any more death!" Raven shouted.

"You won't be responsible for death, Raven. We'll be saving the lives of every living thing on the planet. That…that's something worth dying for, isn't it?"

"But…Terra…what about Beast Boy?"

Terra hesitated.

"He's already lost you once," Raven said. "I…I don't think he can take losing you again, not now that he finally has you back."

Terra looked away, deep in thought. But when she looked back at Raven, her gaze was steady, even though her voice wasn't.

"I c-care about him too much t-to let him die. If I c-can save him by doing this, t-then…I have to try."

"But Terra…"

"Look, if we don't do this, I'm gonna die anyway, and so will the rest of the planet!" she insisted. "At least this way there's a chance I'll survive! Just hurry up and do what you need to do, Raven!"

"Terr-"

"I said, DO IT!" she shouted. "Malchior's coming!"

Raven clenched her eyes shut, took a calming breath, and when she opened them again, her gaze was as steady as Terra's. She pointed her hands at the blonde girl.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she murmured, and gleaming white runes suddenly traced themselves into existence up and down Terra's arms and legs, across her stomach, and on her forehead. Ignoring the slightly confused look on Terra's face, she hovered cross-legged a foot off the ground in meditative position.

"Stand right behind me," Raven ordered. Terra complied.

Malchior now loomed over them, sneering. "**_WHAT PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT RESISTANCE IS THIS?_**"

"Terra…?" Raven murmured.

"Y-yeah?" the earth maiden answered.

"…This is gonna hurt."

Terra gulped, and braced herself for the worst…

"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!"

Raven's eyes blazed a pale white, and her chakra stone gleamed with more of the same. A thin beam, barely half as big across as her chakra, fired from the stone toward the same spot on Malchior's forehead…but it was stopped short a good ten feet away by a shield of purple and red energy that Malchior planted in its path.

"**_PITIFUL…_**" Malchior sneered.

Raven concentrated, and put as much power as she could muster on her own into the beam. It widened and strengthened, pushing forward a few inches, but Malchior strengthened his own shield to match her, and push the beam back again.

"Uunnhh…Terra…it's time…"

"I'm ready!" she shouted.

Raven focused on the runes painted across Terra's body, willing them to activate, and draw the energy from Terra's body.

"AaaahhhAAAAhhh…" Terra muttered as the runes burned. It felt like they were searing her skin with hot irons…but she was handling it…so far.

Raven directed the extra power into the beam, and again it grew in strength and size; it was now twice as big around as the chakra stone. It pushed against Malchior's shield, and made it two feet closer before Malchior could draw the power to push it back again.

"**_NYAH! YOU ARE FOOLS…YOU CANNOT HOPE TO COUNTER MY POWER! YOUR ATTACK WILL FAIL!_**"

"Mmmhhh…" Raven moaned. "Need…more power…"

The runes strengthened, sapping more of the earth maiden's energy with a horrid pain. The irons felt white-hot now, and it was all she could do not to scream. She was amazed she was even still standing.

More power flowed into Raven's light beam, slamming into Malchior's shield so hard it forced the mighty dragon back a step. The shield wavered, and for a second the beam came within a yard of connecting, but Malchior too focused more power, and his shield again pushed the beam back…but much more slowly this time.

Malchior snarled. "**_YOU…YOU WILL REGRET THIS RIDICULOUS RESISTANCE, GIRL! WHEN I…DEFEAT YOU…YOU…WILL…SUFFER!.!.!_**"

Raven ignored him. "A little…more…" she grunted. The runes flared brighter, and more power flowed into Raven's body…

"AAAAAHHHHH!.!.!" Terra screamed, unable to hold it back any longer. She fell to her knees, shaking…writhing in pain.

_I can't draw much more energy from her,_ Raven said to herself. _She can't do this forever…_

Again the beam strengthened, and again, it pushed ever so close to Malchior's forehead. The dragon pushed the last of his power into his shield and held the beam at bay…but he was no longer pushing it back. It was all he could do to hold them beam in place less than three feet from impact.

"**_NO…NOOOO!.!.! THIS…IS IMPOSSIBLE…I WON'T BE DEFEATED BY YOU! NOT EVER AGAIN!.!.!_**"

But Raven did not push more power into the attack…Terra was suffering. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, her whole body convulsing…but she was no longer screaming.

"_Keep…keep g-going…_"

Raven gasped and almost lost concentration on the beam. "Terra…no, I…"

"_I…can take it…just…a little m-more…that's all…all you need. D-do w-what you h-have to do, R-Raven…_"

"Terra…"

"_Besides…it's w-what you wanted…r-right?_" Terra whispered. "_You said…if you h-had the choice…you wouldn't have…brought m-me back…you…you're b-better off without me…r-right?_"

"Terra, please," Raven almost begged. "You can't…don't ask me to…"

"_Then…I'll do it…myself!_"

To Raven's amazement and horror, Terra's power surged, and the earth maiden began feeding the runes all on her own.

The pain…it was indescribable. Like her whole body was encased in a furnace. She would have screamed, if she could…but her mind was slowly blacking out…she was losing consciousness…

Raven drew the surge of power into herself, and focused it on the beam once last time. It flared until it was as big around as Raven's whole head, and slammed into Malchior's shield. The dragon managed to hold it for a fraction of a second longer…and then…the shield fell…and the beam connected.

The shriek of pain that escaped Malchior's lips was almost deafening…and rightly so, the empath knew, for she was quite aware that the sensation Malchior was feeling right now was akin to having one's skull torn in half. The beam's light enveloped Malchior's entire body, and now Raven was not only almost deaf, but almost blinded as well. The light shone for a solid minute, Malchior's screech fading within it…and as the light faded as well, two huddled figures, one large and one small, remained in his place. One, the battered, bruised, and broken form of Malchior's original dragon form, purple and black skin scarred and bloody. The other, Raven's own Red side, scowling with four demon-red eyes at her counterpart.

"**_It seems…that you have won,_**" the entity muttered.

"Get back where you belong," Raven commanded simply.

Red scowled again. "**_I will control this body again…someday…_**"

And without another word Red became a flash of red light, which Raven absorbed into her own body. The white outfit morphed back into the black and blue she had always worn. And at last, she was whole again.

She glared down at the battered form of Malchior. He was unmoving. Dead.

"Be gone from my mind, you insufferable parasite," Raven said. A flash of black escaped her eyes and engulfed Malchior…the same spell he had used on the other titans…and a second later, he was gone.

It was over.

It was finally…finally over.

_But at what cost?_ she suddenly asked herself.

Raven gasped. "Terra!"

She spun around, eyes on the blonde girl. Terra was lying motionless on the ground. The runes had faded without leaving a single mark…but Raven was not fooled. The damage had been done.

"Terra…no…you can't be dead…" Raven said. "You're wrong, this isn't what I wanted! Please don't be dead, Terra…please…"

Raven reached a trembling hand out, afraid of what she would find as she pressed two fingers gently against the blonde's neck…

She felt nothing…

She shifted her fingers, feeling around…searching desperately for…

_There!_

A pulse. Weak…but there nonetheless.

She was alive.

Raven breathed a gasp of relief. "Don't scare me like that…" she whispered. She scooped the earth maiden up in her arms, and her eyes flashed black.

"Let's get out of here…"

Raven's soul self expanded, wrapping the two heroes within, and together, they left the mindscape behind.

* * *


	24. Epilogue: A Titan Again

Clash of the Titans by CidGregor

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

* * *

**Epilogue**

For the third time in a period of forty-eight hours, Terra found herself coming back to consciousness in a hospital bed, with the lopsided grin of Beast Boy staring down at her.

_Mmm…yeah…I could _definitely_ get used to this…_ she thought lazily, glancing around at the dark room. The curtains were wide open, which meant it was nighttime. She wondered for a moment what she was doing there, before the memories all came back at her in one massive rush. She sat bolt upright in the bed, and right into Beast Boy's waiting arms.

"Hey there, beautiful…" he whispered.

"Beast Boy?.! Where am I?.! Where are the others?.! What happened to Malchior?.!" The questions poured from her mouth.

"Hey, hey, take it easy, dudette," Beast Boy calmed her. "One thing at a time. Everything's okay, Terra. We won."

Terra relaxed slightly. "We…we won? Really?"

Beast Boy smirked. "More like we TOTALLY WHUPPED BUTT!"

Terra couldn't help but giggle a bit at that.

He turned and called over his shoulder. "Hey guys! She's awake!"

A second later the rest of the Teen Titans entered the room, which Terra now recognized as the medical wing of Titans Tower. The team was all back in their physical bodies, and all the wounds that went with them, but Raven had done a good job healing them. Starfire's shoulder wound had stopped swelling and bleeding and was now wrapped in gauze. The scarred skin between Robin's eyes was bandaged underneath his mask. Beast Boy's bruises and scrapes had mostly vanished. Cyborg still seemed a little beat-up, but the repairs to his metallic frame were going well, Terra could see. And Raven herself…

Terra stared curiously at the unusual expression on Raven's face. It was some strange mixture of happy and yet sad, carefree and yet troubled…

A second later Raven noticed the earth maiden's stare, and quickly masked her expression, until it was unreadable as Robin's often was.

"How's my favorite rock'n roller?" Cyborg said with a grin, offering a hand, which Terra quickly high-fived.

"H-hey, Cyborg…"

"Welcome back to the plane of consciousness, dear friend!" Starfire said, wrapping the blonde in a hug. Terra braced herself for a squeeze, but it seemed Starfire knew to restrain herself for once.

"Thanks, Star…Robin, Raven…"

Each nodded in return, their expressions revealing nothing.

"How long was I out for?" she asked.

"The rest of the day yesterday, and all through last night. Close to eighteen hours," Cyborg answered. "It's almost dawn right now."

"A-and…Malchior? And his Titans?"

"Dead and gone," Raven answered simply. "We destroyed their minds within my mindscape, and their bodies died along with them. By the time we returned to the real world, the bodies had faded away."

"Even Malchior?"

"Even Malchior," Raven agreed, "thanks to you."

"Raven told us what you did, Terra," Robin said slowly. "That was…_incredibly_ stupid and _incredibly _brave of you."

"Uh…thanks…?" Terra said, not sure how to respond to that.

"All right, y'all!" Cyborg interrupted. "Those poser Titans are toast, Malchior's a hole in the wall, and we've got Terra back to top it all off! Anyone up for pancakes?"

"Glorious! I shall assist!" Starfire exclaimed, and sped out of the room before Cyborg could say anything else.

"Ah…heh-heh-heh…" he laughed. "She likes to lick the spoon…"

And Cyborg sauntered out after the alien girl.

Robin cleared his throat. "Beast Boy, Raven…can you give me a minute?"

Beast Boy gave him a suspicious look, but Raven snatched Beast Boy by the back of his uniform and dragged him toward the door before he could say anything.

"C'mon, Casanova, you can chat with your girlfriend later," she muttered as they exited.

Terra eyed Robin warily, wondering what this could possibly be about.

"Terra…" Robin began, "first of all…I want to thank you. What you've done for us these last two days…I can't begin to tell you how much it means to us. And it…it really shows me how much…how much you've changed…since…"

"…Since I was with S-Slade," Terra finished, her voice shaking only slightly.

Robin's eye's tightened for a moment at the mention of his hated enemy, but relaxed again a second later.

"My point is…" he continued, "you've grown a lot since we first met you. Back then, you were a scared little girl who could barely control her powers…and now look at you. Saving the city from certain doom on a regular basis already."

Terra smiled slightly.

"You've matured so much, Terra. You made mistakes…like we all have…but you learned from them, and you strived to make up for them. And…well…we talked it over, and…we've decided you've earned one more chance. We'd like to have you back. We'd like you…to be a Titan again."

Terra's heart leapt into her throat, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing. No, she had to have been mistaken, she told herself…there was no way Robin had just told her that...no way…

But then Robin pulled from his belt a round, yellow object sporting a 'T' emblem, and Terra knew she'd heard correctly.

"Robin, I…I couldn't…this is…amazing, but you know I don't deserve it…"

"But you do, Terra. You've become a hero, whether you want to admit it or not. You saved the city six months ago, and you saved the city again in these last two days. You've earned your place here, Terra. If you want it, it's yours."

Terra slowly reached out a trembling hand to take the fresh new communicator, but Robin suddenly pulled it back at the last second.

"…On one condition," he added.

"…What condition?" Terra asked warily.

Robin paused, almost as though at a loss for words. He was fidgeting; hesitant; a side of the Boy Wonder she'd never seen before.

"Can I trust you…" he started, "to keep my secret?"

Terra breathed a mental sigh of relief; she'd almost forgotten about that. Was that all he was worried about? She was expecting it to be something bigger.

"I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"Not even Beast Boy?" he pressed.

"Your secret's safe with me…Dick," she said with a small smirk.

Robin smirked back. "It never fails. At some point or another, everyone _always_ makes that joke. It's a curse, I tell ya…"

Terra chuckled. "So…I'm…really a Titan again?"

Robin nodded, finally handing her the communicator. "Good to have you back, Terra. We've missed you."

And the Boy Wonder spun on his heel and left Terra to admire her newest gift.

* * *

A short time later there was a knock on Terra's door. Her first assumption was that Beast Boy had returned; but to Terra's surprise, when she called the knocker inside, it was not Beast Boy, but Raven. 

"Terra," she greeted in a monotone.

"H-hey, Raven."

"Robin's told you the news?"

"Y-yeah, he did," Terra said. "T-thank you, really…it means a lot to me, y'know?"

Raven said nothing.

Terra stared. "Is…something wrong?"

Raven sighed. "I…came here for two reasons, Terra. The first…is a question. Something I have to know the truth about, if I can ever really, truly trust you again."

"Oh…y-yeah, okay…what do you want to know?"

Raven looked Terra directly in the eye with her most piercing stare. "Terra…what was it that made you go to Slade? What did he offer you that made you give up the home and the friends you had here? I need to know _why_, Terra."

Terra held Raven's gaze for perhaps a few seconds, then turned away and sighed, defeated. "The night I met you all…Beast Boy found out that I wasn't…totally in control of my powers. I was so afraid you guys would reject me if you knew…everyone else in my life had done so. So I made him promisenot to tell anyone. Then, that first battle we had with Slade, in the quarry…I ran into Slade, alone. He…told me Beast Boy would blow my secret…that you guys couldn't teach me to control my powers. He told me he understood me, that he _could_ teach me control."

She took a breath, fighting back the tears that were stinging in her eyes, and went on. "At first, I didn't believe him…but when we got back, and I saw that Robin knew I couldn't totally control my powers…I thought Beast Boy had broken his promise. I thought that…that Slade had been telling me the truth all along. So I went to him…and he taught me the control I always wished for…"

Terra paused, looking back at Raven. "But…Beast Boy…he didn't break his promise, did he?" she said. "Robin…he just…figured it out on his own, didn't he?"

Raven nodded slowly. "We all did, really. After what happened in the quarry…well…it was pretty obvious."

Terra rubbed the wetness from her eyes. "God, I feel so stupid…"

"It's okay, Terra. You were honest. That's all I was really looking for."

"You mean…you knew already?"

Raven smiled slightly. "I had a pretty good idea."

Terra managed to smile back. "Um…so…what was the other thing?"

"Hmm?"

"You said you came here for two reasons. What was the other?"

This time it was Raven's turn to look away as she answered. "I…want to apologize."

"For what?" Terra asked.

"For giving you the idea that I wanted you dead," Raven answered. "When you took that spell into your own hands and gave me the power to beat Malchior…what you said to me then…it scared me. I…never wished for your death, Terra. I was…mad at you, for what you did…but I never wished you harm. Part of the reason I didn't free you from the stone sooner was that…that spell might have failed and destroyed your body. And I didn't want to risk that."

"So…you don't hate me?"

"Nah," Raven said, the slight smile creeping back to her face. "I think you've changed my mind by now."

The empath turned to go, but stopped at the door. "Actually…there is…one more thing."

"What's that?"

She faced Terra again. "Thank you…for everything you did to help me. The mirror, the final spell…I appreciate it more than you know. And…"

"…And?" Terra probed.

"And…I want you to know…I forgive you."

"You…what?" Terra whispered.

"For the things you did…under Slade…I forgive you."

"Raven…"

"But," Raven cut her off, "I haven't forgotten. No matter what comes in the future, the things you did will always be a part of your past. So I'm warning you: you've earned back my trust, Terra…but don't lose it again. Because I won't give it again."

Terra nodded. "Y-yeah…I understand."

Raven nodded curtly, and left without another word.

* * *

The next knock at her door ten minutes later did, in fact, turn out to be Beast Boy. She greeted him with a broad smile and open arms and he stepped forward to hug her. For a good few minutes, they stayed there, simply holding each other in silence. 

"You okay?" Beast Boy finally said, pulling back so he could look into his friend's eyes.

"Yeah…never been better," she said honestly. "Guess I'm a Titan again, huh?" she added, holding up her new communicator.

"Yeah…it's pretty cool, huh? I was kinda surprised Raven was okay with it…but I guess you guys worked things out, huh?"

"More or less," Terra said. She smiled at Beast Boy again.

"What?" he asked, smiling himself.

"Nothing," she giggled. "Hey, c'mon, it's almost sunrise! Let's go up to the roof and watch! What do you say?"

"Uh…Terra, maybe you should stay in bed…"

"Are you kidding? I've been sitting in that thing for more than half a day. Let's get out of here already!"

"N-no, it's not that, it's…"

But Terra had already climbed out of bed, and made to jump out the window, but a sudden breeze around her waist gave her pause. She glanced down, and saw she was dressed in a hospital gown – the kind that had no back.

"I was gonna say, maybe you should get dressed first," Beast Boy said sheepishly, a few seconds too late.

Terra turned red. "R-right…"

Beast Boy politely turned away while Terra snatched her uniform from the bedside table and dressed, and then the both of them rode a boulder up to the roof of Titans Tower for the second morning in a row, just as the sun was beginning to shine over the horizon.

"It's really beautiful, isn't it?" Terra said, staring at the multicolored lights.

"Yeah…I love it out here," Beast Boy answered.

For a while, the two sat in silence together, and the sun slowly rose and lit up the cityscape. The world was waking up. It was almost frightening to think how they might never have lived to see this morning, had Malchior succeeded in his plan…had he unleashed the monstrous Titans of old upon the Earth. And he'd very nearly succeeded, too…thanks to those horrible visions…

Terra shivered at the memory. She knew it had just been an illusion, but she couldn't deny that that 'illusion' had very nearly been truth. And if it weren't for Beast Boy…it very well might have been.

Beast Boy noticed her shaking, and wrapped one arm around her, pulling her closer to him. "You okay?"

"I…was just…" she began, paused, then sighed and went on. "Beast Boy…when we were in Raven's mind…Malchior…he did something…he showed me this…vision…where I truly was Slade's apprentice…and I'd killed all of you…and for a while…I almost believed it was real. And it reminded me just…just how close things came to that actually _being_ real. It scares me to think how things might have been…"

"You can't let yourself get hung up on the 'what-ifs,' Terra," Beast Boy told her. "Trust me, I went through them myself…what if I'd been a better friend to you…what if I'd found a way to free you myself…what if…I hadn't pushed you away at the carnival…"

Terra shivered again.

"They drove me crazy for a while…I was lying awake at night, thinking about all the things I could've done, but didn't. It was tearing me apart…"

Terra turned to face the changeling. "Beast Boy…you shouldn't get so worried over me…I'm not worth it…"

"Yes you are, Terra. You…you're worth more than you know. After you were frozen…I was miserable. I starting wondering whether I would ever see you again…I got scared that we would never find a way to free you…I was ready to give anything…_anything_ to be with you again."

The earth maiden's heart pumped at lightning speed. "Why?" she whispered. "Why did you want me back so badly…?"

"Because…when I was with you, I was happy…happier than I'd ever been before. Because the thought of not being around you ever again was the most terrifying thought I'd ever had. Because…"

Ever so slowly, Beast Boy pulled her toward him, and wrapped her in a soft, gentle hug, his hands buried in her golden, silken hair.

"Because…I love you, Terra…" he whispered in her ear. "I love you…I love you so much…and I never want to lose you again…"

Terra would've jumped for joy if she wasn't wrapped up in the greatest hug of her life. _He loves me! _she thought joyously._ I don't believe it, he really loves me!_

"Oh, God, Beast Boy, I love you too…" she whispered back fiercely. "I never meant to hurt you, I just wanted you to be safe…I love you…"

And before she even knew it she was kissing him. It was an intense feeling…one full of longing for the kiss they meant to share ages ago. It was this, more than anything else, that proved to Terra what the Titans had always been telling her: that she had a home here, always.

She felt his hands running through her hair as her own were caressing his back. Gradually the kiss deepened, and Terra's body was wracked with the most incredible sensations she'd ever known…

Eventually they separated, as they both needed to breathe again for a moment. They looked into each other's eyes, and both appeared to want to say something, but both decided against it; no more words needed to be said. They leaned in again, and their lips met once more. They remained that way for a long time, engulfed in each other's warmth and love, and the sunrise quite forgotten.

* * *

"Ugh…" 

Raven gazed around at the disaster zone that had once been her room. It was hard to believe, looking at the utter mess, that it had ever been clean. With a sigh, she began folding clothes and returning them to their proper drawers, gathering books and returning them to their proper place on her bookshelf, and remaking her bed-sheets exactly the way she liked them.

About an hour into her work, she was gathering a pile of robes from the floor, half-hidden under her bed, and as she picked them up, she discovered two picture frames lying under them. She bent down and picked them up, and with a start she realized they were the same two pictures she'd looked at back before the entire Malchior fiasco had begun. One of the five original Titans, posing together…the other, the one with the frame snapped in half by Raven's own power, a solo shot of Terra.

Slowly, she set down the load of robes and picked up the two frames, and for a long time, she stared at both photos, an enormous wave of déjà vu washing over her. Two days ago she had stood in that same spot…staring at those same photos…yet that felt like a lifetime ago, and it seemed like she was looking at two completely different pictures. Something just….didn't seem right about either of them. It had once, those two days and a lifetime ago…but now…something was missing…they just didn't feel whole anymore.

Raven removed both pictures from the frames and held them, one in each hand, trying to figure it out. She had no idea why in was bugging her so much…but it seemed so important.

She put both photos in the same hand for a moment to gather the load of robes back up and place them in a drawer. By random chance she happened to glance at both photos at the same time…and she froze. She looked back.

_That's it!_

Her room forgotten, she strode down the hall to Beast Boy's room and dug a photo album out of his bedside drawer. Inside were the vast majority of the photos in which Terra was included. She flipped through them until…

_Perfect…he won't mind my taking one…_

Raven removed the photo in question, returned the album back to its proper place, and returned to her own room, locking the door behind her. She opened the unbroken picture frame and slid the new photo inside. She snapped the frame shut, then slowly turned it over and gazed at the picture inside.

It was a group shot of the Titans; like the previous shot, they were gathered in front of Titans Tower. But now, there was no solo picture of Terra, alone and off to the side. All six Titans were gathered in front of the Tower.

Starfire with her arms wrapped around Robin's.

Robin with a goofy grin on his face.

Cyborg making the 'peace' sign.

Raven herself looking bored, and yet trying not to laugh.

And sitting down in the middle were Beast Boy and Terra. Hands clasped together. Smiling without a care in the world.

That was it…that's what was missing. The old pictures had shown the old team…the divided, incomplete team, with Terra off to the side…the outsider…the outcast. But now, as one…it felt…complete again. Terra was right where she belonged. Not off by herself…but among her family.

"Welcome home, Terra…" Raven said quietly, placing the picture on her dresser. "…Welcome home."

* * *

**THE END **

**

* * *

**Author's Notes: What a ride this one has been. I can't tell you how much I loved writing this... 

Well, first of all, I'd like to give my eternal thanks to SocialButterfli. Your pestering has been a constant source of motivation, heh. I'm grateful to have a friend like you.

I'd also like to thank all my regular reviewers. You know who you are. Thanks for the continued support.

And so ends Episode Two of the Titan Chronicles. Up next is Epsiode Three: "Thresholding." Look for it in a week or so.

Thanks for reading,

-CidGregor (aka JP)

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